New Age
by Dragon's Lover1
Summary: Meet Dr. Kagome Higurashi. She works in a recently developed portion of the Shroud Companies called “Metaphysical Understandings”. What she does is analyze and report the supernatural things she’s given, such as old Japanese Ofudas, Taro Cards More insid
1. Creature From The Old World

**Claimer:** I own what has to be the smallest fraction of Inuyasha possible. So small I can't remember it. Heh, oh well. Moving on.

**Summary:** Meet Dr. Kagome Higurashi. She works in a recently developed portion of the Shroud Companies called "Metaphysical Understandings". What she does is analyze and report the supernatural things she's given, such as old Japanese Ofudas, Taro Cards, Crystal Balls and so on. And then she was assigned to the biggest discovery of the company: a demon-like creature recently uncovered in a deathlike sleep from under the surface of the Old World.

**New Age**

_Chapter One : The Creature from the Old World_

Kagome loved her dreams. There she could become part of what she now tried so hard to understand and categorize. She danced with the mythical fairies, created beautiful butterflies and flowers with a single thought, and time and again she met the perfect man.

But she could never really see him. She knew little things about him: he was taller than her, and let his hair grow longer than she's ever seen. His hands had white nails, more often than not pointed like an animal's claws. His body and face were so completely covered in shadows that she could never see his face or his clothes - if there were any.

It didn't stop her from having great experiences with him. Whenever nightfall came in her dreams, they would point out the stars of old, and he would name the constellations. She didn't know them. The stars were mapped and followed now, not drawn upon.

He whispered to her, always. Though in dreams one truly could not feel, she knew she was feeling his breath whenever he whispered in her ear. But why would he speak so quietly? She asked him this time, why, and he whispered to her that he was afraid, scared that if he talked any louder, it would prove this all to be false; make it a dream.

And he wanted it to be real, for the both of them. He kissed her after telling her that. But then this horrid sound interrupted the dream and the birds took flight. She didn't understand what it was.

This time, when she looked at him, she could see his eyes, golden in color; captivating. And he whispered, "You have to go. That's your phone."

"I don't want to," she said, grasping his hands. "I want to stay here with you."

He shook his head. "I will see you tomorrow night. You know that."

He was already fading, the trees, the sky, the very ground; her dream was ending. She was waking up.

"I don't want to wait that long," she protested. "I want -"

He cut her off before she could finish, leaning forward and kissing her again. She grabbed his shoulders and clung, wanting desperately for the dream to last, to continue this dream. But then her eyes opened and all she saw was the cold metal walls of her room.

She sat up with a frustrated growl. "Dammit, I lost it again!" She sighed, trying to remember what woke her up.

The phone was still ringing and now she heard it. "Alright, alright, alright!" she snapped, picking up the small metal phone. "Yes? Dr. Higurashi here."

"Kagome, you won't believe what we found," a female voice said quickly.

"Yuka?" she asked.

"Yes! We just found this man, but he's not a man at all. He's incredible!"

"The Yeti, I suppose."

"No, even better! He's so gorgeous - oops, I have to keep my voice down," she added, quieting. "The board members are calling everyone in. We're going to attend a meeting and then they're going to assign one of us, maybe two, to this guy. You're at the top of the list!"

Kagome gasped and stared at the wall in front of her. This could be the thing she was waiting for! The thing that gets her on her feet, above simple research and her dream job in On-Field Management! "I'll be there in twenty minutes," she promised.

"Kagome! Twenty minutes! It takes thirty five to get here!"

"Twenty minutes," she repeated.

"You'll be breaking the speed limit," Yuka warned.

"Twenty minutes of reckless driving is worth it. See you in twenty."

"Arridiverci."

"Yuka?"

"What?"

"Stop speaking Italian." She hung up there, on Yuka's laughter.

She moved as fast as could, starting with getting up - and she tripped on her blankets and hit the floor. Her mood, too good to be broken, made her laugh at the clumsy mistake, and she took up her standard researching clothes. It amounted to a black T-shirt (Old World style) and tight black jeans, which happens to be a type of fabric no longer made in this World. It was an antique that her grandmother owned.

She was in such a rush, she almost forgot her boots, the type issued to all researchers. They wouldn't let you in the building without the right type of shoes for your position. Frankly, Kagome hated them, but they were made specifically for researchers so she was left with no choice.

Outside of her home was a small, simple area of rare trees and grass, one of the preserves. This block had eight houses, two-story apiece, given to employees of Shroud. Almost everywhere else, however, were hundred-story apartments, compacted as much as legally possible for single inhabitants.

At the moment half of her house was rented out to a woman named Eri, a girl she was fast becoming friends with. Eri always slept in because her job was loose; she was called in when needed and paid the same daily charges. It was a nice schedule but never paid overtime.

Kagome got into her vehicle, a standard AirCar with a double feature to allow driving on pavement - which no one really did anymore, since most of the ground levels were covered in mixed types of pollution.

She set it to manual, took it to the air and started a course to Shroud Company Main, the main building which is where she worked. The computer voice said, "You are going thirty kilometers above regulated speed. Discontinue or a Police Patrol will be sent to analyze your behavior."

"Not this time, sorry," she said. She pressed three buttons and the computer was turned off. Smiling, she said, "Sayonara."

She didn't make it in twenty minutes. It took twenty-two minutes. Yuka and Ayumi, two of her colleagues, were waiting for her.

"Two minutes late," Yuka teased.

"Thirteen minutes early," Ayumi argued. "They set up the meeting in this room, Kagome. Let's go."

"Avanti," Yuka said.

"Cut it out, Yuka," both girls said.

They all laughed but stopped before they entered the room. A large circular table was set up in the center, surrounded by chairs. The girls took their seats beside one another and Kagome counted.

"Forty-seven," she said. "Forty-seven of us, vying for this job."

"Yeah, but your chance is higher than the rest of them," Yuka said.

"You are the most qualified, and have made the mot progress out of all of us," Ayumi agreed.

"Still, it seems like a long shot," Kagome told them.

In the center of the table was a hole, wide enough for six people to stand in. All the tables were like this now. The board members sat at their own desks in private locations, which is rumored to change for each board meeting, and their images are uploaded into tiny squares which are then places in holders at the inner edge of the table. Their forms are shown in the empty space in the center of the table, usually standing but today sitting.

They all faced outward and were onlooking a particular set of researchers under their management. For Kagome's group of Metaphysical Understandings, their manager was Mr. Horace Bell. He created their subject and hand-picked the team. He was looking straight at her and smiling.

"Many of you know this already," Mr. Bell began, "but we just uncovered what appears to be a man from the wreckage of the Old World. His metaphysical qualities are entwined with his entire being, inseparable. We've analyzed him already and found nothing out of the ordinary; no spells, no upgrades, no potions, nothing that would signify that he wasn't born this way."

"Which, as you all know, is an impossibility," Mr. Charange went on. "His qualities are in his very DNA. To better understand where he came form, we will have to have one of you research every extent of him."

"But first you must know what he is capable of," Mr. Bell continued. "His strength was measured at being able to lift at least seventeen pgs with his arms alone."

Kagome gasped, as many of the researchers did at this point. That was just about equal to six tons in the Old World's weighting system! Seventeen pgs is the limit for the strength analyzers, too; no wonder he said "at least".

"This strength also doubles as being able to tear apart triple-reinforced titanium."

She was getting scared now. All this was impossible! Nothing they had could tear apart cold titanium at that level! They would have to heat it first, make it pliable, and that took nearly seven hundred degrees Celsius. What was this guy made of?

"The rest of his body shows the equal strength proportion of every average man. His back in nearly three times as strong as his arms, and his legs are twice that. We measured his legs and concluded that he could take a standing jump of more than thirty facts. Each of his fingers has pure white animalistic claws that seem to be unbreakable, even with a diamond drill. He could use those to slash through double-reinforced titanium with little problem."

"This guy can't be for real!" one of the doctors said, standing. "That's humanly, and even mechanically, impossible!"

Half of the people present nodded or worded their assent.

"Remain seated," Mr. Juronobi said. "We have not finished."

"Continue, Mr. Bell," Mr. Gagrin said.

"Thank you. Now, we have found that he has elongated canines. Atop his head are a set of dog-or-cat-like ears. His hair is white, and his eyes are gold. He is taller than the average woman, but not average height for a man."

"Now what we need," Mr. Juronobi continued, "is a researcher who is qualified to be his analyzer, reporter, and caretaker. You may walk out of this room now if you are too afraid or feel you could not handle him."

She should have gotten up. She should have stood and left with the rest of the researchers. But she stayed seated, and in the end, only she, Ayumi and two other doctors she'd never met remained seated.

Mr. Bell nodded at her. "You are at the top of our list, Dr. Higurashi. You're on the team."

"Team?" she repeated.

"Yes. The four of you will work together in better understanding this man. He has already been relocated to a lab on the ninety-sixth floor. All four of you are to report there now and sign to fully accept this project. It will cancel the rest of your responsibilities until such time as we are convinced we know everything about this man and decide what to do with him."

"Dismissed," all six men said in unison, and their cubes flickered and turned off, their images going with it.

The four remaining researchers stood and began a trek to the nearest auto-elevator.

"What did I get myself into?" Ayumi whined.

"Be glad you weren't at the top of the list," Kagome hissed at her. "That's a lot of pressure to stay seated."

The other two researchers were a man and woman. Once on the auto-elevator, they introduced themselves.

"My name is Miroku Minokira," the man said, offering his hand.

"Don't trust him," the woman said. "And watch your rear end."

Kagome and Ayumi took a step back.

"Stop doing that, Sango," Miroku said to the woman.

She smirked. "My name is Sango Minokira, Miroku's wife. He keeps telling me he's behaved now but I don't believe it."

"Konnichiwa," Kagome said, shaking Sango's hand.

She looked impressed. "You know a language of the Old World."

Kagome grinned. "Yeah. My mother taught it to me. My Grandmother spoke it before the Fall."

"I see. And you are?" Sango asked, turning to Ayumi.

"Ayumi Fitsunara," Ayumi said. "I overlook what our archaeologists find and determine whether it's worth investigating or not."

"I'm the Director of Human Resources," Sango said.

"What's that?" Kagome asked.

"She tells everyone what to do when they're stuck," Miroku said quickly. "Human Resources just improve what we already have and try to find new things to help us out."

"So what do you do?"

"Nothing, really. Researcher of Digital Anomalies." He shook his head. "It's ridiculous. I'm actually looking forward to meeting this _'man'._ It'll be a nice break."

"And what do you do?" Sango asked Kagome.

"Researcher of Metaphysical Understandings. Basically I take something they give me, analyze it, report about it, then poke and prod it as they order me to."

"A step above what I do," Miroku laughed.

The auto-elevator stopped and said, "Ninety-sixth floor, High-Security Research level."

"Oh, that's promising," Sango said flatly as they exited. "Anybody ever been this high before?"

"Only in my AirCar," Kagome said. She went up to the window and looked down. "That is one hell of a long way down."

On the wall beside her, a small strip of metal beeped. "Dr. Kagome Higurashi. Fined twenty-five Sets for one swear." It spat out a slip of paper and Ayumi laughed as Kagome grabbed it.

"Twenty-five Sets for one swear. Whoever made this rule was an ass."

It beeped again. "Dr. Ayumi Fitsunara. Fined ten Sets for improper use of language." It spit out another piece of paper and this time Sango and Miroku laughed, too.

"Okay, so anybody know which door we're going to?" Kagome asked as they started walking again.

They stopped before a huge door with a number pad and red-and-yellow warning lights.

"That one?" Miroku asked.

"Anybody else have a bad feeling about this?" Ayumi said, moving closer to Kagome.

"Probably," Sango half-answered.

Six guards, all in full armor plated uniform, stood off to the side. One of them came forward and spoke in highly-trained tones.

"Room A-1 on level Ninety-Three, High-Security Research. State your names and positions."

They all did so.

"State your orders."

"Research of a recently discovered man," Kagome said.

"Highly dangerous specifications," Miroku added. "Orders directly from the Six."

"We were notified of your arrival," the guard said. Another guard came up beside him, holding a clip board. "Sign to be admitted."

In turn, each of them pressed their thumbs into the digitized pad and it beeped after each had been recorded and said their names. The second guard hooked up the pad to the door and punched a code into the number pad. The red-and-yellow lights began blinking and a tiny door slid up.

Out of the small rectangular space four cards were issued. The guard took them and handed them out, then stepped back with the first guard and waited.

Sango stuck her card in the small slot beside the number pad and it blinked and said, "Dr. Sango Minokira. Party?"

Sango pushed the number 'three'.

"Admitted," the computer voice said, and the door slid open.

Then entered and took in the way this research room sized up with the rest. It was bigger, big enough to hold eight researchers doing their own things all at once. Six desks, four tables, and in front of them, against the far wall, a prison.

It wasn't quite as tall as the ceiling, maybe a half a fact short. It was wide enough to fit their prisoner with his arms spread out, which is exactly what he was doing. It was hard to see through the security field, a bright green - but translucent - type of curved door. It was heated to eight hundred degrees Celsius but maintained so as to not increase the temperature on either side.

"Well, let's take a look at him," Sango said.

They walked across the room and Sango slid her card into the number pad beside the field. The field wavered and shut down, the green sliding both up and down -- split horizaontally in the middle -- to reveal Him.

He was seated in a chair made specifically for dangerous prisoners. It was a soft chair to keep them comfortable, but lined with reinforced titanium so they could not break it. Their arms were held out with their hands below their hearts so blood flow wasn't a problem. Their legs held up a bit so it was more like a recliner than a chair. They usually came with straps around wrists, ankles, thighs and arms and one around the neck.

Being much more dangerous, he was given four straps along each arm and leg, a grand total of sixteen; one around his waist, a second around his ribs, and the standard around his neck. His head was down, his body limp, and he was stark naked.

Both Kagome and Ayumi looked away.

"Oh, my," Ayumi said. "He's. . ."

"Really something," Kagome giggled.

"Straighten up, you two," Sango said. "We're not supposed to fawn all over him."

"I should certainly hope not," Miroku said.

"But then again," Sango said in teasing tones, "I wonder where he was when I was of marrying age."

The girls giggled at that but Miroku's eye twitched.

"He was buried, where he belongs," he snapped. "Now let's get this assignment over with." He turned and stalked over to the nearest desk and sat down, ordering the computer to turn on.

"I think you made him mad," Kagome said to Sango.

"Not the first time," Sango replied. "But we really should get started."

"Okay, what's first on the agenda?" Ayumi asked.

As Ayumi and Sango talked, Kagome glanced at the stranger again. It was strange, but with his head down like that, his face in shadows. . .she could almost let herself think that he inspired the man she couldn't see in her dreams. But it was a ridiculous thought. The man in her dreams didn't have furry bangs or little dog ears.

"Oh, crap," she snapped.

"What?" Ayumi said.

"I forgot to feed my dogs."

"Have Eri do it."

"What time is it?"

"About nine."

"She isn't up yet."

Sango laughed. "You have a roommate?"

"Rented out my house. So many rooms and just one of me, you know."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"That's pretty young for a researcher."

She shrugged. "At least this way I don't have to worry about who I'm going to get set up with. Yet."

"Both Kagome and I have three more years," Ayumi said. "Before we're given a man to marry."

"Look who I was given," Sango muttered out of the corner of her mouth. The three of them looked over at Miroku, who was angrily reading the given files. They giggled.

"Pity for you," Kagome said.

Ayumi put the security field back up and then got to work. It didn't take long to work out a schedule so none of them would work too late. Kagome, who woke up the earliest of them all, would come in at six. Ayumi would come in at ten. Sango and Miroku would come in at two. Kagome would leave again at four, Ayumi at eight, and Sango and Miroku at eleven.

The schedule would be started tomorrow.

They didn't stay long that day, in fact they all went back to their homes at five. They hadn't gotten much done, but then, they didn't have solid orders yet. They spent most of the day making notes and the rest of the time getting to know each other and their researching habits, to make the team more functional. It also kept them from having to do anything directly to Him, which kept the girls from blushing about him.

He definitely looked fit for a dead guy.

Once back home, Kagome hugged her dogs and spoke with Eri about the day's activities.

Eri seemed interested.

"So he's a dead guy?" she asked, sitting on the couch and giggling.

"As far as we know, he was in some sort of stasis," Kagome explained, crossing her legs on the floor, her dogs all laying near her. "Animals have been known to do that, but we don't know when or if he'll wake up again."

"Wow!" Eri said, clapping her hands. "It sounds so exciting! Your work must be really fun from now on, Kagome!"

"Which reminds me – why aren't you at your job?" she asked, teasingly.

"No work Tuesdays," Eri explained, patting one of the dogs as he walked by her.

Kagome laughed. "I thought it was no work sundays," she argued.

"It was," Eri agreed. "They changed it last week."

Kagome laughed. "Lucky you."

"Lucky _you_," Eri argued. "You've got a gorgeous romantic in your dreams and a sexy naked man at your job. Were I to switch places with you. . ." She sighed wistfully.

"Ha ha ha," Kagome replied flatly. "You don't know how frustrating it is to never be able to see his face or clothes. . . I wish I knew who he was."

"Listen, Kagome," Eri said, sliding off the couch to sit in front of her, "maybe the reason why you can't see him is because you're meant to meet him and fall in love with him first. Not that I'm an expert, but I think maybe -- if he's real -- then he can't see you, either. Which means that the two of you are meant to be and you have to trust that."

Kagome shook her head, but smiled nonetheless. "Oh, Eri, you don't know how much I wish it were true. . . But I've always had the weirdest dreams and that means I can't get hopeful about this one, just to get let down." Her female chow, Daisy, whined and nudged her shoulder, so she reached over to pet the girl affectionately.

"What do you think you'll dream of tonight?" Eri half-teased.

Kagome smiled. "A sexy shadowed man who romances me. . ."


	2. Not Quite Dead

**Claimer:** I own what has to be the smallest fraction of Inuyasha possible. So small I can't remember it. Heh, oh well. Moving on.

**Summary:** Meet Dr. Kagome Higurashi. She works in a recently developed portion of the Shroud Companies called "Metaphysical Understandings". What she does is analyze and report the supernatural things she's given, such as old Japanese Ofugas, Taro Cards, Crystal Balls and so on. And then she was assigned to the biggest discovery of the company: a demon-like creature recently uncovered in a deathlike sleep from under the surface of the Old World.

**New Age**

_Chapter Two : Not Quite Dead_

The next morning Kagome didn't forget to feed her dogs, all four of them. Two of them were husky, one was a retriever, and the forth was a chow. Whenever they had puppies she sold them at two Sets apiece, more as they got older. The night before her dream hadn't been about that man or neat powers. It'd been about Him, the unknown creature.

It was odd, too. She saw herself doing routine research on him when he woke up and told her, in Old World Japanese, that something evil was coming. The bonds didn't hold him when he got up, and the field didn't harm him when he walked through it. He grabbed her and the scene changed, becoming an incredible endless forest like those seen in Old World books. It was beautiful until the sky darkened and the sun eclipsed. But it wasn't the moon that eclipsed the sun, it was a black star. Everything around her died and the trees turned to dust. When she looked back at Him, he was wearing the strangest red-colored outfit she'd ever seen. He told her that this was where he died, everything looking like this. When the sky darkens again, when the Black Star eclipses the sun, it will happen again.

And then he was gone and she was awake.

Now she was flying her AirCar at the regulated speed back to Shroud Main, back to her research room, back to her job and the strange man that invaded her perfect dreams with a prophecy of evil. He'd completely ruined her thoughts of meeting that shadowed man in her dreams again, and for that she was annoyed with him; dead or not.

She'd set up a briefcase to take with her and now set it down on the desk she assumed as hers. It was opposite Miroku's, one of the two nearest Him. She stood there for a moment, staring at his image behind the field, wondering what she could do for today. After a few moments she decided it'd be ridiculous to continue to be angry with a corpse and set her anger aside.

"Well," she decided, "I can't do anything without him involved." She turned off the security field and once again looked away. Certainly he wasn't found completely nude, right? So what did they do with his pants?

She couldn't possibly poke and prod him like he was. So she went back to her desk, got a roll of measuring tape and measured around his hips. She was blushing furiously the entire time, being so close to _that_, but this was how one chose the right size of pants. She measured down his leg then and kept running the numbers through her mind as she went to her desk.

She pressed a button on the keyboard and it blinked on the screen. She typed in a request for a pair of pants and sent it to the nearest clothing shop. A reply beeped up saying, "You will have the requested size in two hours. Thank you for your business."

Now that that was taken care of, she wasn't sure about what to do with herself. She kept glancing at Him. She wondered what his name was. She wondered if he had a name. She wondered if he had a family still stuck under that wreckage. She wondered if he was married, if his people even had marriage, if he had any offspring and if they would come looking for him.

She wondered why she was still thinking about him and staring at him while she should be working on figuring out what he was. Shaking her head, she got up and grabbed a syringe. The first thing they always tell you to do was to get a blood sample.

She knelt down inside the prison and felt for a vein in his right elbow. She got a little distracted, however, by the feel of his skin. It was soft and smooth, very well taken care of. Surprising in that he'd been under that rubble for who-knew-how-long.

She realized she was fondling him after a short while and shook her head. He wasn't _that_ great of a man, to be able to seduce her while completely unconscious, if not dead. She found his vein again and took a blood sample, a large one in comparison to how much they usually took, but with this guy, who knew how many times they'd screw up while trying to understand him.

She left him, put up the field again and typed into her computer how much blood she extracted. For a while she was doubtful that a syringe could penetrate his skin at all, after her dream. But that proved it was just a dream, didn't it? She'd been having the strangest dreams her entire life and they never meant a thing; why would that one be any different?

She started tapping her fingers on the desk and got lost in her thoughts. She didn't come to until her computer beeped and said, "You have a new message."

She jumped and sighed. "Alright what do I have?" she said, opening it.

It was from the clothing shop. It read, "Your total is fifteen Sets. Thank you for your business."

She took a card out of her briefcase and stuck it in a slot. It beeped and fifteen Sets were taken out. She went to the door and opened it. A guard held out the pants and she thanked him.

It wasn't just pants. A note on the top said, "For being a first-time customer, you receive an extra item in the size and style of your purchase. Thank you for your business."

It was boxer shorts. She laughed, realizing that she had indeed forgotten that item, and mentally thanking them for it. It would probably be incredibly uncomfortable for Him to wear snugly fitted pants without something soft to keep his. . .parts. . .from rubbing up against the fabric.

Now came the fun part: putting them on. It was against regulation to take off the reinforced straps holding him down, but she couldn't get them on otherwise. She was supposed to call in guards and have one of them do it for her, to keep her out of danger, but somehow that thought didn't appeal to her.

Biting her lip and trying to remain professional, she shut down the field and unclamped the straps around his legs. She set down the pants and knelt to put on the boxer shorts. She hardly made it past his ankles before she paused to regain her control.

She took a deep breath, told herself this was for the best and she'd never have to do it again.

In retrospect, it's easy to think that you could put clothes on an unconscious person. But the actual feat is harder than that. He was heavier than she guessed and it was hard to control the way his legs rolled whenever she moved one. In the end it was a triumph for her to get them on.

And then came the pants. It was definitely more difficult than the shorts, especially because she had to make sure the shorts didn't bunch once she got them up. That meant tucking them down again. Plus she'd never tried to dress a man before and worried about the zipper and button. She didn't want to accidentally hurt him while fitting it.

In the message to the shop, she included that they were being made for a man, hence the boxer shorts. Naturally the shop included that in the making, counting for his male genitalia. The problem there was that it was still a bit snug and the thought made her giggle.

To her it was actually quite intimate, although it was a silly way to look at it. But then she didn't make a habit of dressing men and therefore it wasn't something she could easily put out of her mind.

Possibly the worst part was his smell.

Kagome had never noticed that people had a smell. She'd never tried to smell anyone, either. But he definitely had a smell. And the closer she was to him, the more alluring it was. After the pants part of her day, she found herself leaning close to him and smelling him.

It was incredible. Animalistic. Almost dirty compared to their clean world and spotless metallic instruments. But she couldn't stop herself. His smell was so. . .so_ male_ that her body was responding on an unconscious level.

She didn't even notice she was moving until she opened her eyes again and found she was staring at the right side of his jaw, her head beside his, his head still lowered and facing forward. And then another horrible yet wonderful thing happened: she saw his mouth.

His lips were just slightly parted and his mouth looked so. . ._inviting_ that she could hardly keep rational thoughts. And her "rational thoughts" were against her, telling her that he would never know and nobody would ever know. . .it would be just her secret, something for to know that no one else ever would.

After all, who else would kiss an unconscious man that no one knew anything about? Even if the board did decide to use him for breeding, no kissing would be involved at all. _Women_ probably wouldn't be involved.

So why not?

She hated it when she couldn't think of a good reason to do or not to do something. Wetting her lips, she moved her mouth to his and very softly, trying not to do anything that could awaken him, she kissed him.

Wow.

This guy must've been made instead of born. His lips felt amazing, and he wasn't even doing anything. What kind of a man could be a good kisser while completely passed out?

None. Not a one.

She kept up the kiss for a few moments more, slowly but surely beginning to feel her heartbeat get stronger but not much quicker. She could almost hear it, and it was working the same way his scent was: seducing her. Her own body was against her in this.

She drew back sharply when she fully realized what she was doing and laughed at herself. This was just stupid.

Well yes, he was remarkably good-looking for how old he must be. And yes, his physique kept up with him flawlessly and didn't seem to have faded a bit. Yes, his scent was so enticing that she wanted to sniff him again. And yes, his lips felt so incredibly wonderful that. . .that. . .

That she was leaning towards him to kiss him again. This time she also noticed her hands lightly touching his chest, how warm and soft the skin there is.

She really, really didn't want to accidentally wake him up, but this time she noticed the taste of his mouth and unconsciously made a soft sound at the back of her throat. Her ears picked up a sound much like hers from somewhere close, but it didn't register for several moments.

When it did her eyes opened and all at once it occurred to her that he'd been kissing her back for quite a while and she hadn't noticed. She gasped and threw herself back but didn't make it too far. He wrapped his legs around her waist as she managed to grasp the cell's opening in her right hand. Her left hand was on his chest, trying to keep a distance between them.

He was smiling at her, but it was a devilish kind of smile. He lifted his chin and slowly licked his lips. And he really did speak Old World Japanese, just like her. He said, "Higurashi Kagome, right?"

She was shaking, scared of what he could do to her, but nodded. "Hai," she said.

Mr. Bell wasn't kidding when he described his strength. She doubted she could move a bit unless he let her. But she also had to find a way to get herself out of this position. The door behind her opened and she looked over her shoulder.

All six guards came filing in, police-issue guns drawn and aimed. They said, in unison, "Let her go, now."

She looked back at Him and waited for him to do so. But he looked confused.

"They said to let me go," she told him in Japanese.

"Then you tell them," he said, "that if they lower their weapons, then I will."

She told the guards what he said and they seemed to be considering it. At length they lowered their weapons and repeated their order.

He let her go and she jerked back so fast that she tripped on the edge of the cell and fell. She heard him chuckle and glared as she got back up.

"Dismissed," she said over her shoulder. The guards filed out again and she crossed her arms. "What's funny?" she asked him.

"You tripped."

"Thanks for noticing."

"Thanks for the kisses."

She blushed. "You were supposed to be unconscious."

He shrugged. "I woke up."

She was angry. Angry at herself for losing her professional demeanor. Angry at him for waking up. Angry at the guards for coming in when they had. Angry for the strange dream she'd had which had disrupted her usual nightly routine.

"Put your legs back on the cushions," she ordered.

He lifted his chin. "Why?"

"So I can reclamp the straps."

He put his legs back up on the cushions. "They're very soft, the cushions. I'm a little disappointed that you dressed my bottom half."

She blushed again and punched in the number that controlled the straps, and they curved around his legs again and then tightened. When she looked at him again, he was looking around. Something told her that wasn't a good idea, to let him look around like that. There was a definite wisdom in his eyes that she knew nothing about.

But then she didn't want to put up the shield again. Still, it was orders, so she took her card out and it went back up.

She saw him smirk through the shield. "This I remember."

"How long have you been awake?" she asked, sitting back down at her desk and preparing to type.

"I'm not sure. I started coming to when you came in; I remember hearing the door open and close. But I didn't really wake up until you stuck that thing in my arm."

"Syringe," she said as she typed. "It's called a syringe. Were you conscious at any other time?"

"Yesterday, but only for a little while. You were here with three other people. Fitsunara Ayumi, Minokira Miroku, and Minokira Sango."

Upon saying those names, she felt unnaturally cold. He was awake enough to know their names. Why didn't the monitor show that? She looked at it now, the screen above the number pad. It showed slow and steady beats of his heart, how active his brain was, and whether or not he was stable. Everything was normal, not a spike out of place.

"That can't be right," she whispered.

"What can't be right?"

She jumped. "How did you hear that?" She whispered it, and the shield made a constant hum, louder on the inside than outside so as to prevent the prisoner from hearing anything.

He grinned, showing his canines. "You think I would have dog ears and not hear like one?"

She hadn't thought of that. Mr. Bell had said, "Dog-or-cat-like ears," and He confirmed them to be dog-like. Is the rest of him like a dog?

She typed it in. "You can hear as well as a dog?" she asked.

"Better, why?"

"I'm supposed to type in everything I find out about you, what I do, what you do, et cetera. How are the rest of your senses?"

He looked right at her, then at the wall behind her. "Two small squares beside each other, the left one with a tiny dot in the center." She looked behind her at the wall but didn't see what he was looking at.

"There's a line above the right one and a jagged line beside it. It connects to another shape, a triangle pointing down. Two lines crossed diagonally is next to it with two dots under it."

She got up and went over to the wall, trying to find what he was looking at.

"Further right. No, that's too far. Look up. Higher. Right there."

Her jaw dropped. This. . .this was impossible. These tiny shapes he just described, they fit in the width of her fingernail! His vision was obscured by the shield and still he saw it, better than she could now, right below it.

What it was is the symbol for Shroud's main supplier, the four unknown people who run it. It was on the wall because they supplied the metal for the wall.

She spun and walked directly to Him, shutting down the shield and sitting on the edge of her desk. "You saw that earlier."

"No."

"You must've. There's no way you could've seen that symbol through the shield without a pair of goggles. And even then, you wouldn't be able to notice all the details about it."

He grinned again. "Do you know what you smell like?"

She straightened self-consciously. "Smell like?" she repeated.

He nodded. "I'll tell you."

She wasn't so sure she wanted to know. Still, it would show how sharp his sense of smell was. . . "Tell me," she said after a moment.

He shook his head. "No, I don't want that camera to hear it. Come closer."

There was a camera in here?

She could have slapped herself. Of course there was a camera in here! But how did he know about it? "I'm not coming any closer," she said, firmly.

He shrugged. "Then I'm not telling."

She didn't like this. Biting her lip, she came up to the cell but didn't enter.

"You're going to have to get closer than that," he said.

"Either you tell me now or you don't tell me at all."

"Alright." He wriggled, shifted, and leaned his head back. "Your loss."

Kagome clenched her jaw. She stepped inside the cell, keeping one hand on the number pad as she did so.

He looked up. "You hardly moved."

Hating that he was molding her like this, she knelt down.

He laughed, once. "Closer."

_You will be punished if you try anything, _she thought, leaning closer.

He smiled. "Almost there."

She understood by now. He wanted to whisper it in her ear. With one hand on his shoulder to keep her balance, she turned her ear towards him and again leaned closer.

Very quietly, hardly a breath, he said, "I smell water, sodium laureth sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine -"

She scoffed. He was naming off the ingredients to her bodywash.

"Wait, wait, wait," he said as she started backing off. "Wait, I'm not done yet."

"Then get to the point," she snapped.

He nodded. "Come here. I don't bite, you know."

She wasn't convinced, but she leaned towards him again, anyway.

"You smell like a woman," he whispered. "On you I smell faint but fresh flowers. Honey. . . I smell sweets and flavor, and. . .desire. . ."

His voice trailed off at about the same time she turned her head to look at him. She could hardly believe that she was back in this position.

"What do you smell on me?" he asked.

"I don't know," she whispered. "Something. . .something strong and. . .alluring. . ." It was getting harder to concentrate on talking.

"Higurashi-sama," he said then.

She'd never been called that before. She swallowed. "Yes?"

"Come closer."

He wanted her to kiss him again. She wanted to kiss him again, too.

But she couldn't.

"No," she said, shaking her head. She stood up.

"Hey - wait - come here," he protested as she stepped out of the cell. She heard him growl in frustration.

She got back to work, typing in how well he could smell and see. It was silent for quite a while before he broke the silence again.

"What time is it?"

She looked at the clock on her computer screen. "Time," she said.

The computer said, "The time is eight forty-four am."

"I suppose you don't feed your prisoners, then?" he asked.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Inuyasha, now are you going to feed me or not?"

He went straight from romantic to pushy in three seconds. Kagome narrowed her eyes. "We're not feeding you until we find out what you can and can't have and when."

"I'm half dog; I can have anything you give me at any time," he snapped.

"Eggs, then? Bacon? Toast?" she asked, faking a sweet voice and doing so badly. "Pick something," she added, flatly.

"Well, what do you people eat?" he said angrily.

"Food!"

"Get me that, then!"

"You get it!"

"I'm strapped to a chair!"

"That's your problem, not mine!"

"You fucking bitch!"

The wall beeped and whirred. "Prisoner 4-5-2-8-0-0-6. You are fined sixty Sets for swear and improper use of word." It spit out a slip of paper.

"What the fuck was that!"

It beeped again. "Prisoner 4-5-2-8-0-0-6. You are fined forty Sets for swear." It spit out another piece of paper.

Kagome couldn't help it - she laughed. Not a few giggles or chuckles, either; she dropped her head on her desk and had the laugh of her life while Inuyasha growled impatiently. Or maybe that was his stomach.

She sat up again, waved him to silence and stopped laughing. "I'll see what I can do," she said. She typed in an address in her computer and brought up a menu of the nearest Japanese-food place. She looked it over and then read them off to Inuyasha.

He stopped her when she said "Ramen".

"That's it! I haven't had ramen in years! Get it, and lots of it."

"Lots of it? How much?"

"How much can they send?" he returned.

_No. . .way._ "How much can you eat?"

"As much as I can fit in my stomach. Get it already!"

She read the menu. Ramen: five mis. That was just about equal to eight ounces, maybe a bit more. She ordered three and in fifteen minutes, she had it. With a loss of thirty Sets, of course.

"Know what?" she said, turning to face him with the bag, "when you get out of here and get yourself a job, you're paying me back for whatever you cost me. I'll even keep a list."

"Yeah, whatever, now unstrap me," he said, eyes only for the bag.

She walked up to him but said, "No."

"Wha - why not?"

"Regulation. You want to eat, you get fed." She brought a chair to sit in front of him and opened the first canister. She twirled the fork in it until the noodles were wrapped around the fork enough that it wouldn't drip, slide or fall into his lap.

As soon as it was in his mouth, he leaned back with a smile. After swallowing he said, "Ah, ramen."

He really did eat all three canisters. Although about halfway through he said, "This would be easier if you'd let me use one of my arms."

"It's against regulation to free any part of you for any reason without armed guards present," she replied.

He turned his head to the side when she went to give him another bite. "You did it before."

"I learned my lesson," she snapped, shoving the fork in his mouth.

He definitely got an angry look at that point, but as she kept feeding him, it kept fading. Kagome was very glad when Ayumi got there, but once she did, there arose more problems without enough solutions.


	3. Testing

**Claimer:** I own what has to be the smallest fraction of Inuyasha possible. So small I can't remember it. Heh, oh well. Moving on.

**Summary:** Meet Dr. Kagome Higurashi. She works in a recently developed portion of the Shroud Companies called "Metaphysical Understandings". What she does is analyze and report the supernatural things she's given, such as old Japanese Ofugas, Taro Cards, Crystal Balls and so on. And then she was assigned to the biggest discovery of the company: a demon-like creature recently uncovered in a deathlike sleep from under the surface of the Old World.

**New Age**

_Chapter Three : Testing, One, Two, Three, Testing_

Ayumi very nearly jumped out of her skin when she found out.

"He-he's awake!" she yelled. "He can't be awake! What'd you do! Kagome, what did you do!"

Kagome waited for her to finish. "Are you done now?"

Ayumi looked at Inuyasha and sighed. "Yes. Yes, I'm done."

"Good. Now, I did nothing. He woke up. People do that."

"Well wasn't he like. . .drugged or something to stay asleep? Wouldn't they do that?"

"There are six guards standing just outside the door and a camera monitoring the room every second. You need to calm down. We're perfectly safe."

"Safe! He's the most. . .most dangerous thing we've ever seen! None of our machines can even compare! And how do you know there's a camera! Who told you that!"

"He did," Kagome replied with a gesture towards Inuyasha. "And don't call him a 'thing'."

"Why not?"

"Because he's an intelligent thing." She went back to her desk and straightened the mess Ayumi made when she backed into it.

"So what, I'm supposed to say 'intelligent' before I say 'thing'?"

Kagome thumped her fist on the table and stood up straight. "You're not being professional, Ayumi, and you know how they treat unprofessional employees."

"Well, yes, but. . ." Ayumi didn't seem to know how to finish.

Turning towards her, Kagome went on. "Maybe you should stop thinking about him like something we just uncovered. Shroud gave him a prisoner identification, and they don't do that to 'things', now do they?"

"I just don't get it," Ayumi confessed. "He was supposed to be unconscious throughout the entire project. This changes everything."

"No, it doesn't," Kagome argued. "So far he's been cooperative, if a little. . .fiery. And, let's not forget, he's _right there_," she finished with a gesture towards the cell.

He had his head down, but it looked like he was laughing.

Ayumi edged closer to Kagome with her eyes on Inuyasha. "Why is he laughing?"

"I don't know, ask him," Kagome told her.

"No way."

"What's so hard about asking a question?"

"He's dangerous!"

"He's held down and barred in by our strongest security measures; tell me how he's dangerous **now**," Kagome said impatiently.

"Well if you're so alright with him, you ask him."

"I'll do that." She walked right up to the cell, lowered the security field and said, "Would you tell us what's so funny?"

Ayumi squealed. "What're you doing! Put the field up!"

"Would you relax?" Kagome hissed at her.

"You probably wouldn't understand," Inuyasha said.

He was looking up now. Kagome sighed. "Wouldn't understand what?"

"What I'm laughing about."

"Try me."

He tilted his head. "Unstrap me."

"Now, I told you the rule about that."

"Don't let him out!" Ayumi hissed.

"He can hear you, Ayumi," Kagome told her.

"I'm not telling."

"You have a bad habit of that." Sighing, Kagome brushed her bangs back from her forehead. "Alright. I'll unstrap you."

"You can't!" Ayumi snapped, grabbing her arm. "You know better!"

"Ayumi, sit down and relax," Kagome told her, forcefully. "I'm smarter than that and you know it." Ushering Ayumi into her chair, she heard Inuyasha laugh a bit more. She went back to the cell, enabled the security field, and punched in the numbers to release the straps.

He stood up and stretched with an incredible amount of flexibility. Kagome heard a large amount of cracks as well, most of them from when he flexed his fingers. Grinning, he looked at her and said, "This is much better. Thanks, Higurashi-sama."

"Now why were you laughing?"

"I don't remember you being all business earlier today."

She blushed. "Get on with it, if you please."

"The time I was born in was filled with creatures we called Demons."

"Of which you are one, right?" Kagome asked.

"Close. My father was a demon, yes, but not my mother."

"I suppose she was an angel then."

"I thought of her like that, yeah, but no. She was human. Making me. . ."

"Half-demon and half-human."

"Right. Back then, being half-demon was the last thing you wanted to be. You get picked on by demons and often hunted. And humans are hardly better to you. So this situation is just like when I was a kid, but also exactly the opposite."

"Now that part I didn't understand," Kagome interrupted.

"Half-demons are underestimated and spoken about like we aren't really intelligent," he explained, tossing a look at Ayumi upon the last word. "You are overestimating but still talking about me like I'm not smart."

"I'm not," Kagome argued, getting angry. "I was taught fairness and-and manners and. . .everything that makes a good person," she stated proudly.

Ayumi blushed. "I was too, it's just. . .well. . ."

Kagome gave her a sympathetic smile. "We're all not sure what to think of you," she told Inuyasha. "We know so little of you and -"

"It's in human nature to fear and even hate what you don't understand," Inuyasha finished.

"Which is exactly why we're working so hard to understand that which we couldn't years before."

He smiled, a soulful type of smile and that made her giddy. She wondered how he made those looks.

Ayumi was glancing between the two. "No. No, no, no. . .No way. Kagome!"

"What?"

"I saw that look!"

"What look?"

"Between you two! Oh. . .if the. . .If Mr. Bell knew that you two were. . .were. . ."

"Were what!" Kagome snapped. "Listen to yourself, Ayumi! You've gone paranoid! Nothing's happened between us and nothing's -"

"Nothing?" Inuyasha laughed. "I'm hurt. Two kisses were nothing?"

She blushed while Ayumi almost literally flipped.

"You kissed him! Kagome, how could you kiss him!"

"He was unconscious!" Kagome said.

Ayumi opened her mouth but Inuyasha interrupted, yelping and then swearing repeatedly.

Kagome jumped and saw him plop back down on the chair, holding his hand and hissing out swears. The machine on the wall beeped repeatedly and kept spitting out slips of paper until it jammed, hissed, whirred, and blew out a puff of smoke.

Kagome looked back and forth from Inuyasha to the machine while Ayumi openly stared at Inuyasha. Both of their jaws had fallen open.

"What happened?" Kagome asked, going over to the cell and shutting off the field. Ayumi was right behind her.

"What was that?" Inuyasha asked.

"What do you mean? What did you do?"

"I wanted to know if that green thing was. . .I wanted to know what it was," he explained.

"You touched it?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, I touched it! What is that thing?"

"So much for intelligent," Ayumi muttered to herself.

"Shut up, Ayumi," Kagome said. "Intelligence and ignorance are two different things and one requires teaching. So let's teach." She held out her hand. "Let me see your hand."

He didn't hesitate in putting his hand in hers. She examined it as she explained.

"That green field is a wall of pure heat. We have it heated up to one thousand degrees celsius -"

"How do you measure celsius?" he interrupted.

"Thirty-two degrees fahrenheit is equal to zero degrees celsius. The normal is about twenty-five degrees celsius, or eighty-five fahrenheit. It's regulated by a series of harmonics used to keep the temperature following the desired path. The Security Field itself is a precaution, should the prisoner, you, manage to get himself out of the reinforced straps. Understand?"

"That's one hell of a paragraph," he said.

She dropped his hand and shook her head. The machine on the wall gave a tired whir but nothing else. "Lean back," she ordered.

He tilted his head. "Why should I?"

"Because I'm head of this team -"

"That are analyzing me when I could just answer questions."

"And my orders are final. Lean back now or we'll have to put you to sleep."

He smiled. "I've heard that threat before. But that's still not a very good reason."

Ayumi tugged on Kagome's arm. "That's true, Kagome. Remember, most of the machines used to measure him were off the charts."

He laughed. "I didn't know I was so well-endowed. Thank you."

This was getting exhausting. Ayumi blushed at his reply while Kagome stepped back and put up the field again.

"Your choice," she told him.

"Yes, I think it's a good one."

She sighed. "Whatever."

"Been dealing with me for four hours and already you've had enough?" he teased. "Not very patient, are you?"

"Not for you, no. For my friends, yes. For my family, yes. For my house-mate, for my boyfriend, for my dogs, even. But not for you."

He got unusually quiet then. Kagome welcomed the silence and continued her work, and Ayumi finally calmed down and did her designated part in the study. They went undisturbed until Sango and Miroku showed up at two in the afternoon, and they, too, nearly flipped when they found that he was awake.

Although two calm researchers could easily convince one ecstatic one to relax, it was a bit more difficult with two ecstatic researchers.

It got worse when Miroku noticed that Inuyasha wasn't strapped down and loudly protested it. After several minutes of this Kagome began getting a headache and sat down at her desk, rubbing her temple. Her left hand was clenched in a fist on the desk and the unrelenting yells weren't helping any.

After several moments they all heard the Swear Detector machine spark and blow again, and they all jumped. It did wonders in helping them regain control. . .right after getting their heartrates up.

Ayumi laughed nervously while Kagome leaned back in her chair and relaxed. In the back of her mind she could hear Sango and Miroku talking quietly now, calmly.

"Higurashi-sama," Inuyasha said.

"What is it now?"

"Could you take down the field now?"

Ayumi heard that. "Don't, Kagome. It's against regulation."

"What's against regulation?" Sango asked.

Neither Sango nor Miroku knew Old World Japanese, so naturally they wouldn't understand a word Inuyasha said or Kagome's replies to him.

"He wants me to put down the field," Kagome said.

"He's already unstrapped; don't do it," Miroku said firmly.

Kagome stood and walked up to the cell. "You're going to need to explain yourself."

"I want you to put down the field," Inuyasha said.

"Don't make me repeat the rule."

"You did it when I hurt my hand."

"Because you hurt your hand. You're not to be harmed unless it's orders."

"Well that's comforting," he said sarcastically. "Look, I'm sitting. You can strap me back up."

She gave him a measuring look and nodded. "Lean back."

"I don't want that one on my neck again," he told her.

"I can bypass it if you give me a good reason."

"I don't like things on my neck."

That wasn't a good enough reason and she knew it, but for her it was plenty good. "Still, you'll have to lean back."

"You won't put it around my neck?"

"No."

He leaned back and settled his limbs where they belonged. Kagome pressed buttons and the straps went around him, not counting his neck as promised. Then she took down the field.

Sango stared at Kagome for a moment. "How'd you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked, sitting down and sending the progress report to Mr. Bell.

"You got him to sit down and get strapped down. Nobody likes that."

She shrugged. "He offered to be strapped if it meant the shield would go down. I accepted. We have to do some tests, anyway." She looked up and noticed that nobody had moved yet. "We have tests to do," she repeated.

The three of them agreed to that and settled down in their desks.

It was going great until Inuyasha sighed frustratedly and said, "Will every day be this boring?"

"Yes, get used to it," Kagome replied.

"Can I at least get up and. . .explore?"

"No," Kagome and Ayumi said.

"Why the fuck not?"

The machine gave another tired whir.

"Because it's against -"

"Regulations," Inuyasha snapped. "Rules. Laws. Orders. Ever do anything against the law?"

"Yes, but if I said them I'd get prosecuted," Kagome said and Ayumi giggled. "Now either be quiet or do something constructive."

"I would if you would let me up!"

She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Ayumi," she whined.

"The only way we could let you out," Ayumi said, "is if you were proven harmless. In Shroud, nothing is harmless until we've made it that way. So you can imagine how long it could take."

"Aw, fuck this," he sighed, dropping his head back. "You're telling me that I'm going to sit here, strapped in, or pace the cell with the shield up while you guys poke and prod me until you figure a way to control me?"

"Bingo," Kagome said. "You can sit there and be good about it, or you can sit there, be difficult and get drugged on a regular basis. Your choice."

He was quiet only for a moment. "Why don't you try asking me questions that I can answer?"

She pushed the keyboard aside. "Alright. What's your normal body temperature? In degrees celsius."

He blinked. "Um. . .twenty-five."

"That's the average outdoor temperature. Try again."

"Thirty?"

"Wrong. We'd need a thermometer to figure that out. So how tall are you?"

"Five foot nine."

"We don't use that scale anymore."

"So translate it."

She rolled her eyes. "This is going to be a very long day."


	4. Samples

**Claimer:** I own what has to be the smallest fraction of Inuyasha possible. So small I can't remember it. Heh, oh well. Moving on.

**Summary:** Meet Dr. Kagome Higurashi. She works in a recently developed portion of the Shroud Companies called "Metaphysical Understandings". What she does is analyze and report the supernatural things she's given, such as old Japanese Ofudas, Taro Cards, Crystal Balls and so on. And then she was assigned to the biggest discovery of the company: a demon-like creature recently uncovered in a deathlike sleep from under the surface of the Old World.

**New Age**

_Chapter Four : Samples_

The following day, when Kagome entered the lab and checked her agenda, she found that Mr. Bell had given her a list of things to do for the day and a note saying that they could leave when they finished, even if it was early.

The first part was a new blood sample. Apparently the last was misplaced and then lost. The second was a sperm sample. It came with instructions of how to get it.

She couldn't believe the way they wanted her to get it. Oh, it didn't involve any kind of physical contact. No, they wanted to get it using a syringe. She could just imagine the way Inuyasha would protest to it.

Didn't they know he was awake? She mentioned it, she knew she did. This wouldn't be such a big problem for her if he was unconscious. She supposed she could simply wait for Ayumi to get here and have her do it, but Kagome didn't like that thought for some reason. Besides, if Kagome had a problem with it, then Ayumi would probably faint.

Okay, first just get the blood, she told herself. That's simple enough.

She picked up a syringe and lowered the field. Upon seeing the syringe, however, Inuyasha. . .didn't stay as quiet as he normally was.

"What are you -- what's that for?" he asked, sharply.

"A blood sample," she replied.

"Didn't you already get one?"

"They lost it."

He looked dumbfounded. "How do 'they' lose a vial of blood?"

She shrugged. "I'll ask them next time I see one." She knelt down and felt for the same vein she used before.

"You know, your touch is kind of soothing," he said.

She paused and sighed. "You're a pretty good distraction." She noticed that he didn't flinch while she drew out the blood, and that he didn't look away from her. It was getting somewhat _distracting._

"I should warn you," she said as she went back to her desk, "they want me to get a sperm sample, too."

"Great!" he said, grinning. "How are you going to do it? I kind of prefer. . ."

He trailed off because she lifted another syringe, letting him see it.

"You're kidding."

She set it down. "They want it taken directly from your. . .parts by use of a syringe. No jokes."

He waited a full ten seconds before speaking again. "No, no, no. No way. No fucking way in hell."

The Swear Detector was repaired, and now beeped and said its only programmed line, then spit out a slip of paper.

"You are not sticking that thing in my nuts. Uh-uh."

It beeped again.

"Let me put it this way," Kagome said, sitting down. "I have orders to get it using the syringe. Now if you can think of a better way -"

"Yes! I can!" he interrupted. "Come over here, unstrap me and work with me. It would be really nice for you, too, I promise."

It sounded like a beg. "I wish I didn't have to tell you this, but we don't do things like that anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Intercourse. We don't do it."

"How do you reproduce then?"

"Once married," she recited, "the couple would decide upon when they wanted their first child and the gender of the child. They then go to a specialized lab which would take one egg and a sample of sperm, more if requested, and in vitro would impregnate the egg or eggs. The egg is then returned to the female's body and in nine months she would give birth."

"So there's no sex involved in that whole thing?" he asked.

"No. Married couples may, but normally do not."

"So basically, you women are mostly still virgins when you give birth."

She blinked. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Wouldn't that hurt worse?"

"We're given a special dose of drugs which numbs the pain entirely."

"Oh that's great. Numb the pain so you have no idea what's getting torn apart."

She hadn't thought of that, either. After a moment she narrowed her eyes. "We've been this way since the Fall and you are in no place to question our logic. How we do things is no concern of yours."

"That's funny considering I am _stuck here now_."

"What would you prefer? Letting you out? Have you seen the outside world?" She stood up quickly and walked to the left wall. "Open."

The walls drew back, showing a large window. AirCars zoomed by and skyscrapers were seen in every direction, eventually blocking out the line of sight. Kagome looked over at Inuyasha and saw that he was leaning forward as much as possible but likely not seeing much.

Knowing that it was against regulation didn't stop her from releasing the straps and letting him up. He walked past her to the window and graced her a smile along the way. It faded as he looked out the window as saw nothing but metal.

Metal cars, metal buildings, metal antennas. A cloud of smoke hung halfway between this floor and the street, obscuring the view from both directions.

"It's. . .monstrous," he said. "Hideous."

Much as Kagome knew that this was her world, she couldn't find the words to disagree. "Lifeless," she said. "I know. It's why I'm so glad I don't live in a city like this."

At about the same time he turned to look at her, the door opened and the guards came in, weapons aimed and ready to fire.

"Return to the cell," they said.

Kagome faced them. "It's under control. You aren't needed. Dismissed."

"We have higher orders," they said. "Return to the cell."

"What are they saying?" Inuyasha asked.

"They want you to get back in the cell," she told him, nodding towards it.

"Well, can you explain why?"

She sighed. "Shroud's main unspoken law is that nothing is safe and secure until they make it so. They haven't made you so, therefore. . ."

"I'm not safe," he finished. He glanced out the window.

"What is it?"

"I keep hearing something," he said distractedly. "It's like those cars, but it's not."

"That could be a train, or a plane, or just about anything." She looked out the window. "Can you show me where it is?"

He shook his head. "You wouldn't be able to see it."

"Return to the cell," the guards chanted again.

"One minute," Kagome snapped at them.

"No, don't worry about it," Inuyasha told her. "Just shut the window again." He turned, somewhat depressingly, and returned to the cell, sitting back in the chair.

Kagome said, "Close window," but it was done almost unconsciously. Inuyasha looked really disturbed, and for some reason, that bothered her. She went to the cell and pulled out the card, not bothering to strap him down this time. When she turned to face the guards, they were already filing out. One remained behind for a moment.

"We will report your tendency of letting him out," he warned her, before he left.

She narrowed her eyes. "Do whatever you want, it won't stop me," she muttered under her breath.

Inuyasha didn't say anything to that, and at first she wondered why. . . And then she remembered that she hadn't spoken in Old World Japanese. He hadn't understood her. She turned once more to face him and asked, "Would you like to know the language we speak?"

He glanced up under his bangs. "I already know seven languages; they've gotten confusing and I'd prefer not knowing another one."

The way he said that made her think that he wasn't paying full attention to her inquiry. Still, she nodded and returned to her seat, fiddling with this and that as she waited for Ayumi to show up again.

Sadly, the day didn't get any better when Ayumi showed up. If she was upset when she learned that Kagome had kissed Inuyasha, she absolutely flipped when she learned that Kagome let him out of the cell.

"What were you thinking!" Ayumi yelled, half from disbelief, and half from panic. She was speaking their new language, not Japanese, making sure Inuyasha couldn't understand.

"She looks pissed," Inuyasha commented.

"Hush," Kagome told him before turning back to Ayumi. "Look, Ayumi, he's a lot more mellow now," she told her. "Now that he knows what outside is like, he's in no hurry to leave."

"That doesn't justify breaking the rules!" Ayumi snapped back.

"I know," Kagome said, keeping her calm demeanor. "I broke the rules time and again with him. . . I'm sorry for that, Ayumi, but something about him just. . . I don't know. . ."

"A challenge," Ayumi finished.

"What?"

"Oh, Kagome, don't tell me you've never noticed. You always rise to the challenge, and Inuyasha. . . he's a real challenge," this with a glance at him.

Kagome glanced at him, too, and met a steady, questioning gaze. "That's one way of putting it."

"Let me guess," Inuyasha interrupted, "you're talking about me."

"How perceptive."

He snorted. "Not like it was hard to figure out. You keep saying my name and looking at me."

Kagome rolled her eyes. Changing her language again, she spoke to Ayumi. "We have a bit of a problem. . ."

"**_What!_**" Ayumi snapped later, when Kagome fully explained the day's objectives. "No, no, no, no way! I'm not - I can't - _no,_ Kagome!"

Kagome sighed. "I don't want to do it, either. But we have to."

Ayumi looked like she wanted to cry, and she whimpered. "Well, there's no way I'm getting that close to him!"

"I can't do it alone!" Kagome snapped back.

"I can't do it at all!" Ayumi returned with a wild gesture. "He scares me to death and you know how. . . how shy I am!"

"And I'm any different?" Kagome asked, then paused. Yes, she was. . .

Ayumi voiced her thoughts. "Yes, you are! You don't look all that scared of him, and. . . And you seem to trust each other."

Kagome made a very unladylike snort. "That trust'll be gone the moment I pierce his danglies."

Ayumi's jaw fell and her eyes bugged. In return, Kagome blushed and covered her mouth with her hand. Ayumi said, "I can't believe you just said that. . ."

"Me neither," Kagome replied, dropping her hand.

And then, simultaneously, the girls burst out laughing. Once started, it was hard to stop, and they eventually ended up sitting on the floor facing each other. At least until Inuyasha made himself known again -- loudly.

"What the fuck are you laughing about!"

Both girls jumped and Ayumi squealed. Then Kagome sighed and stood up, pulling Ayumi up by her elbow. "We," she said to Inuyasha, "were laughing at a particularly embarrassing thing I said just a minute ago."

"At my expense?" he asked. He looked very much unhappy, like every bad thing that had ever happened to him had returned all at once, leaving him very testy.

"In a sense," she answered, tilting her head slightly as she tried to figure him out. "Why do you ask?"

He looked away.

She decided to put it out of her mind. She and Ayumi got back to their daily duties, waiting for Sango and Miroku to show up so they could finish deciding what to do about the sperm sample. In the meantime she took a few more samples of Inuyasha, including sweat, hair, and chips of his nails. He didn't seem to mind all that much, but she wondered if it was because he trusted her or because he simply didn't care.

She didn't voice her question, however. She didn't want to deal with him if he suddenly decided to answer her with, 'It's because I trust you.' He's already made more than a few advances on her, and while it disturbed her, it also flattered her and excited her. It was times like now, when she sat at her desk and thought of this, that she found herself blushing and fidgeting.

She glanced up at Inuyasha as though willed to and noticed his gaze was directly at _her._ Her blush darkened and she wondered what he was thinking, if at all. Most of all, she wondered if he was reading her actions, or possibly her thoughts. She had no way of knowing if he was telepathic, which her research had proved existed three years prior; her very first project at the age of fourteen.

He kept staring at her, and slowly, she could feel a strange warmth in her body that was foreign but highly seductive. All at once she wanted to let him out of that cage and then let him do with her what he wished. . .

She looked down and shook her head, trying to clear the heat and the thoughts that had just gone through her mind, focusing on controlling herself. Just what did Inuyasha think he was doing, anyway? Staring at her like she was. . . like she was. . . _his_ or something. That jerk. She should slap him.

Her anger seemed to only be making her more passionate, though. She'd never felt anything like this, let alone heard of it before! Her eyes lifted their gaze to Inuyasha again, finding that he was still looking at her silently. In her chest, she felt a flutter, like a flower opening before the sun. She felt her cheeks warm again and had to glance away before she swooned altogether.

What was it about him that got her so? Was it because he was different? Some unknown creature? Was it because he was so fit, so handsome, so exotic? Was it because he was sitting there in his chair, now strapped down again, behind that green barrier, practically under her control?

'Under control'. Yeah, right. He was entirely too wild to be controlled. He proved this time and again, by saying unruly things, doing strange things, suggesting unlawful things. . . Unlawful things. . . which were somehow appealing to her.

She couldn't allow herself to look up again. His gaze was too captivating, too alluring, too. . . Too what? Too exotic? Or maybe. . . too erotic?

She could have slapped herself. What was she thinking! Erotic! Of all the crazy, idiotic, ridiculous ideas. . . With how people dressed and acted these days, there was no 'erotic' anymore. The word itself exists only because it is part of the dictionary, in old stories and documentations. It had a specific feeling it describe and therefore needed to be known, but it didn't exist in the least.

_Inuyasha is just so erotic. . ._ She looked up again with that thought and found that still he was staring directly at her. As she continued to look, she made a decision: She was going to let him out again, this time with orders to come to her home. . . where he could be away from this place, these tests; with her as her secret, and free. . . Certainly, her dogs would love him, right?

She just about stood when the door opened and the remaining two members of their team entered. They were talking deeply with one another and the sound of the door opening had made Kagome jump, so focused on her thoughts as she was.

She could have kicked herself for thinking such a thing. What had come over her, anyway? Inuyasha wasn't a prisoner; he was an unknown being whom they were struggling to understand so he could be let into the world without fear of being prejudiced. That was all, wasn't it? Unless the higher-ups were planning something sinister, which she highly doubted, that included Inuyasha and/or his blood and other assorted parts.

Still, he looked kind of like a caged wild animal the way he was, and he must be hating it, too. With nothing else to do for the time being, he was simply studying what was around him; that explained his stares, didn't it?

Ayumi was talking to Sango and Miroku, explaining about today. Kagome noticed it only when she heard her name and picked up that they were at the part when Kagome let Inuyasha look out the window.

She was going to be yelled at, but then, she was the head of this team; she had rights they didn't. She straightened her posture, waiting for the imminent snaps from her co-workers. When they turned to her with hard looks, she narrowed her eyes in response.

Sango spoke first. "You know it's against the rules to let him out, in any version of the word, Kagome."

Inuyasha heard her name and spoke up. "Higurashi-sama," he snapped. "Address her properly!" Being that only Kagome, Ayumi and Inuyasha could understand that, Sango and Miroku simply shrugged it off.

"I know that, yes," Kagome agreed. "But I don't see how you see him as dangerous. He can be, yes," she said before they disagreed. "But he hasn't shown any hostility at all yet. I don't believe he'll attack unless we give him a reason to."

"Your faith is well noted," Miroku replied, "but we can't be sure of that. We don't know how his mind works; we have to be careful!"

"Inuyasha is **not** a dangerous brute! If you'd spend as much time here as I do -"

"We'd all go nuts," Sango interrupted. "He's entirely too unpredictable -"

"That doesn't make him dangerous, that makes him interesting!" Kagome argued fiercely.

They all looked at her for a moment, and then Ayumi said, "Listen to yourself."

Miroku nodded. "I think it would be best. . . if you resigned your position here."

Kagome's jaw dropped. "No way, I worked too hard for a chance like this!"

"You're smitten!" Sango snapped. "You do nothing but argue when he's around -- you argue with him, then with everyone else _about_ him!"

"You're too close to him," Ayumi said, gently. "I hate to say it, Kagome, but they're right. You can't possibly keep working here when you act this way about him. What happens if, months from now, the two of you keep getting closer and end up wanting to marry, and then the Managers decide to terminate his life?"

"That won't happen," Kagome hissed.

"Which part?" Miroku pressed her.

She didn't know what to say to that. So looked over at Inuyasha a moment, who was glancing between them all and looking like he was struggling to understand. When he noticed her gaze, her looked at her in question, as though to explain what was just said. It occurred to her then that he didn't like being kept out of the loop, and it also occurred to her that she wanted to tell him.

Not out of courtesy or obligation, but because he was looking at _her_ like that, he was asking _her_ to explain, _her_ above Ayumi. Did that mean. . . he really did like her somehow? She glanced away again, at the wall that was behind her. What was she to say, now?

Which part did she believe wouldn't happen? Getting involved with him, liking him, wanting to marry him, or his supposed death warrant? While she couldn't answer those yet, she did know one thing: If they so much as suggested that he might be considered for a Death Warrant, she was going to get him out of here, and not worry over where he went. She would gladly sit in a jail cell like the one he was in now, for the rest of her days, silently, if it let him be free again.

But since when did she care so much for someone she didn't know?

"It has to be his scent," she said to herself.

"Kagome!" Ayumi hissed.

She looked up at Ayumi and noticed that Ayumi was the only of the three with comprehension on her face. She'd spoken in Japanese unconsciously? A little worried, she looked at Inuyasha again, who was smiling faintly through the fuzzy green barrier.

He'd understood her. . .

Standing up, she straightened her lab coat and looked directly at her team. Without another glance at Inuyasha, she explained all about today's assignment and that she'd already gotten most of it done. As expected, Miroku was the only one who was willing to get the sperm sample, but he was obviously uneasy about getting that close to someone that strong and unpredictable. Nonetheless, that was the next stop. . .

The girls all stepped out of the room after Kagome explained to Inuyasha about what Miroku was going to do, and while Inuyasha still protested, he relented a little when she also noted that the spot was going to be doused in a numbing agent to keep it from hurting, which could not harm the skin and dissolves after thirty seconds. Miroku came out to get them when it was over, and each of the females were hard pressed not to look at the vial and see if it was white, as it should be.

Kagome did, however, look at Inuyasha. He looked rather like he was going to cry, or at least, the fuzzy way the barrier blurred his image made him seem that way. He was looking down at his lap, but Kagome didn't want to think of the why. Instead she typed in that they'd gotten the sperm sample and looked at the rest of the list.

The lab also wanted a sample of the fur on his ears, a few swabs of his saliva, and a peel of skin from his lips. She blushed as she thought of being near his mouth again, and in fact having to touch his lips, though she knew that contact -- if done by her, at least -- would make up for the drop of a scab he likely had on a testicle now. Still, she couldn't see herself getting up and close with him again, after she had been berated for letting herself get so close to him already.

She listed off the rest of the items and everyone looked at her. She understood, after a mere three seconds of that look, that they were all afraid of his fangs and if he had a tendency to bite. Being the only one without that fear, she was the only one capable of getting it done right.

She sighed. This job was almost too annoying, really. She got up and walked over to him again with the necessary tools and vials. She set them down, then sat down and listed off the last items she was to get.

He shook his head. "Don't you guys have enough of my DNA yet!" he snapped at no one. "You pulled my hair out by the roots, you stuck a needle in my arm, you put a bag on my hand until it got hot enough to sweat and swabbed it up, you stuck a needle in my _nuts_ and **now** you want to stick a swab in my mouth, rip skin off my lips and yank out the fur on my ears! You guys should suck my d-"

"Enough!" Kagome snapped. "We didn't make the rules, alright! We have to follow them or get new jobs, and for us, this job itself could get us higher up on the ladder! You should be counting your blessings that you have us right now, too!"

"Why's that!" he snapped back.

"Because most of the researchers here are such mindless drones that they wouldn't have bothered with numbing your **_nuts_** or telling you what they're doing, let alone acknowledging that you're an intelligent, living being! We're the nicest team you're going to get so at least be thankful for that!"

He narrowed his eyes. "If they're such mindless drones, then I don't see them ever yelling at me like you do," he retorted.

Her pride swelled and she narrowed her eyes in return. "You know you love it," she hissed at him.

He smirked like he chuckled silently. "So do you," he returned smoothly.

"Maybe I do, but that's not the issue," she countered. Lowering the field, she first lifted the swab. "Open your mouth," she ordered.

He grinned. "Is it just the swab going in, or can I count on your tongue, too?"

She blushed at the suggestion and stuck the swab in his mouth while he chuckled at her expression. Next she rather carefully tried plucking some of the furs off his ear, after numbing it first. She glanced at him only once during the plucking part and noticed that he looked a lot like he was in ecstasy, which made her hurry and make a note of being careful about his ears. She knew her dogs liked their ears scratched, but for it to be erotic. . ?

There was that word again. She shook her head and tried to concentrate on getting the skin from his lips then, which was extremely difficult for more than one reason.

The first was that the sight of his lips from close up was seducing her, coupled with that scent that was working on her defenses, lowering them and begging her to lean in closer and take another whiff. The second reason was that his were just moist and firm enough that she couldn't really find a good spot to start a peel. The third reason is that he was just letting her touch his lips and stare at them, trying to find that spot to begin. And the forth, and possibly most unnerving part, was that he just kept _looking_ at her, as though he was waiting for her to lean up closer and kiss him. Or perhaps, he was waiting for the right moment to lean closer to her and kiss her. . .

Her cheeks were getting warm again. She ran a finger over his bottom lip once more and almost crowed at finally finding a piece she could pull off. With the tool in one hand and his lip pulled out a little in the other, she pulled the piece off and practically jumped back to be free of his spell. Having gotten all of the samples now, she pulled the keycard out of the cell and turned to face her team.

"That's it for today, we can all leave now," she announced, with more relief in her voice than she'd intended.

"What'd you say?" Inuyasha asked her as she went back to her seat and began putting her things away.

"The orders for today," she explained, "was to get all the samples on the list, and that's it. We're allowed to go home now that we're finished." When she glanced back at him, she saw him lick his lips. It was incredibly seductive, mainly for the point that he wasn't trying to look seductive at the moment.

"You're going?" he asked, sounding disappointed.

"I have no reason to stay," she replied, then bit her lip and hoped that wasn't harsh. "Besides," she added somewhat carelessly, "we're not allowed to stay past our hours. We get fined for staying after; it messes with the schedule."

"See you later, Kagome," Ayumi said as she stepped out.

Kagome stood and waved at Ayumi with a likewise goodbye, extending it to Sango and Miroku as well. "See you both tomorrow," she said as they left and returned to finish putting the things away.

"You have a message," her computer said.

She sat down and opened it. It read, _"Thank you for your work today. We ask that the last person to leave the room please brings the samples down to Lab Floor 76, room O-17. --Management."_

She tapped her fingers on the desk. This didn't add up. The message was sent to _her_ computer. Yet the message itself was indifferent. She noticed it immediately and glanced up at Inuyasha as she reread the message aloud for him.

He had the same conclusion in his eyes, but for his credit, he didn't say it aloud.

She stood up. With a hint in her eyes, she said, "It won't take long to deliver this. I'll come after to feed you before I go for the day, alright?"

He nodded. "Just no more of that mixed-up supposedly-nutritious happy-smile-day shit," he said, ignoring the beep and whir of the machine.

She smiled. "Okay, no more mixed-up supposedly-nutritious happy-smile-day boxes." She went for the door and then the elevator, pressing the button to go to the correct floor. What was up with that message? There was never a time in her four years at this job where they asked her to deliver the samples she took. There was always someone to do that for her, someone who was paid to walk from point A to point B all day long, delivering and receiving.

She hoped Inuyasha understood her message, because she might just need him today.


	5. Free To Fight

**Claimer:** I own what has to be the smallest fraction of Inuyasha possible. So small I can't remember it. Heh, oh well. Moving on.

**Summary:** Meet Dr. Kagome Higurashi. She works in a recently developed portion of the Shroud Companies called "Metaphysical Understandings". What she does is analyze and report the supernatural things she's given, such as old Japanese Ofudas, Taro Cards, Crystal Balls and so on. And then she was assigned to the biggest discovery of the company: a demon-like creature recently uncovered in a deathlike sleep from under the surface of the Old World.

**New Age**

_Chapter Five: Free To Fight_

As Kagome reached the door she was headed for, she thought back on her trek here so far. She passed plenty of those Shippers/Receivers on her way here and couldn't help but wonder if one of them were headed to her lab room to pick up the samples -- which were stashed away in the breifcase she now held. Having reached door O-17, she pressed the button that buzzed a notice to the inhabitants.

A voice said, _"Research Lab; who seeks entry?"_

"Dr. Kagome Higurashi from the new project on the 96th floor. I have samples here from the subject in question to deliver," she said back.

_"Samples to deliver?"_ the voice repeated. It went quiet for a moment, which only seemed to confirm Kagome's suspicions about there being foul play. After a short while, the voice returned. _"Show us your ID."_

She did so, holding it up to the camera. A light blinked to life and zipped across her ID before blinking out again.

_"ID passed. We'll let you in, but then you have to explain."_

This wasn't right. . . As Kagome entered the lab, her instincts acted up. Partially from all the jars, bottles, trays and pieces of everything laying about in various stages of discovery, but mainly because this just didn't _feel_ right. She met a nice young man who introduced himself.

"My name is Dr. Kouga, around here they call me 'Pack Leader' though. Come this way, and we can talk," he said, gesturing which way to go.

She set the breifcase down on the table nearest her before sitting in a gestured chair. Dr. Kouga sat in front of her and didn't waste a moment getting to the point.

"We don't have any record of asking for samples from the subject," he said.

Kagome shook her head. "Maybe not, but the message I got for them was directly from Mr. Bell himself."

"Okay, assuming you're right and there was a mistake or malfunction that kept us from receiving the same message; why are you delivering it?"

She wet her lips. "I received a message from Management telling me to send the samples down to this lab as soon as we finished gathering them."

"You directly?"

"It was specified to whomever left last," she half-answered.

Dr. Kouga leaned back in his chair with a puzzled look. "What all is in that breifcase?"

"All sorts of samples; everything that was asked for."

"Specifically?"

"Specifically: blood, hair, saliva, fur -"

"Fur?" he repeatedly sharply.

"Yes, subject has miniature dog ears instead of normal human ones. Both are covered in fur."

"Anything else?"

She nodded but, being reluctant to say it, blushed and kept her mouth shut.

He tilted his head. "What else was requested?"

She almost whimpered, but put on her professional mask and answered. "A sample of sperm."

Dr. Kouga's eyebrows raised, almost disappearing from sight in his hairline. "Sperm?"

"Yes, it was requested to be drawn directly from his. . . uhh. . . " She couldn't say that part.

He nodded in understanding. "You didn't find these requests a bit odd?"

She nodded. "I did; however I am already in trouble and could not afford to ask questions or disobey."

He nodded again. "I can understand that. Leave the breifcase here, and I'll get someone to check on the communications line to see if something was damaged. In the meantime, I suggest you return to your laboratory with a police escort to make sure nothing happened or will."

"Six police guards are stationed outside of the lab at all times," she returned, standing. "I thank you for your time."

"Likewise. Fare well, young researcher."

"Fare well," she replied, and turned to leave. With every step she took towards the door, she expected her anxiety to fade; instead, it was growing. While she was certain that she was stressing over nothing, she was also certain that her instincts couldn't be wrong when they were this strong. In fact, she found that her steps -- while they had begun slowly paced and relaxed -- were steadily growing in speed.

She was almost running by the time she reached the elevator again, her heart pounding quickly in her chest. She pressed the button for her floor and tapped her foot as the slow journey began. At this point she was almost positive that she could run up the stairs faster than this elevator was going. The continuous 'ding's as the floors passed by annoyed her, and she found herself counting them as one would count the seconds.

At exactly half a second passed the 'ding' for the 94th floor, the elevator jerked to a stop and the lights within flickered warningly.

_Get out._

That thought couldn't have been hers, but she obeyed, trying to pry the doors open with her hands, then looking around when that failed. The elevator jerked a second time, much more sharply, and then she was weightless. She gasped but before she could scream, she slammed into the floor again and panted, shaking, as the moment slowly died.

The elevator had fallen, correct? The emergency breaks must have caught it before it went too far down. Which meant. . . was she exactly at a door, now? She got up and tried again at prying open the doors, but then the lights went out and the sudden darkness made her shriek.

Shaking again, worse than before, she focused on getting the doors open, hoping against hope that this wasn't an assassination attempt on her life, or that of Inuyasha's.

_Try harder; get out!_

She kicked at the doors, frightened by her lack of sight but ignoring it for the time being. She was starting to panic; she could feel it growing inside her. Still, she did her best not to let it control her, and bit her lips on every whimper and scream that tried to escape her throat.

The elevator jerked a third time, knocking her down, and she reached up to grab the inner railing. She could hear and feel her heartbeat now, strongly and clearly, ringing in her ears, thudding in her neck, making her sweat. Once she stood, she didn't have another chance to pry at the doors; the elevator freefell.

She screamed. She couldn't help it as it began a straight, unerring fall a full 94 floors – plus however far underneath the building it traveled. Her feet weren't on the ground, she couldn't see a thing, she couldn't stop the fall, and she was seeing images from behind her eyes. She saw her friends and colleagues, her family and pets, the stranger from her dreams. . . and Inuyasha as well.

Her stomach was churning and her screams were hurting her throat. She flailed her arms out uselessly to find something still and solid to hold onto, feeling tears beginning to well up in her eyes as she thought of how young she still was. . .

And then something grabbed her and everything stopped all at once.

Shaking, whimpering, blind and still seeing saddening images of what she was going to leave behind, she found herself certain that she had hit the bottom floor and died in a bloody heap. Her sense of touch wasn't working, and she couldn't seem to move at all yet. This only helped her thinking that her soul remained in her body at the very bottom at this moment, unable to control her body any longer.

She shrieked.

"Oy!"

She jumped, surprising herself with the move. Her heart hadn't slowed yet, surprising her yet again -- she was still alive!

She stuttered some mess of words she didn't understand.

"Don't yell again," the voice returned.

This time she recognized it.

"I-I-Inu-ya-yasha?" she stammered.

"Yeah, it's me. Now hang on; we've gotta go back up."

"No more heights," she pleaded, leaning into him. She became aware now that he was holding her against his chest with one arm, and she seemed to be sitting on his thigh. How was he holding himself?

"We have to go back up, so hang on like I said."

She shook her head but held him tightly around the neck. "Can you. . . see at all?"

"I can, but I imagine you can't." He shifted and Kagome shrieked again at the motion, her relaxing heart thundering again. "Oy! No screeching, harpy!" She felt his hands move, first finding her waist, and then her thighs. She blushed.

"Wh-what are you doing!" she asked, sharply. The moment of fear passed as she felt her anger and indignation rising. Trying to seduce her in such a situation! He really **_was_** a brute!

"Now I told you twice to hang on," he snapped back. He shifted again and moved her thighs so her legs were wrapped around his waist.

She was just about to throttle him when she felt him leap. With another shriek she clung to him. The motions following were the strangest ever: he would jump, she could feel the air rushing past; then he would turn and land for only a breif moment, and leap again. Each leap sent a wild thrill through her very core, both with excitement and fear. By the fifth jump, she was almost having fun, having forgotten of her earlier anger.

It wasn't until she felt something brush against her face that she realized all that earlier moving had been _him_ moving her to his back. That gave her a sense of trusting, which at the moment was unfounded. She had to wonder, despite her thrilling ride on Inuyasha's back, how he had gotten himself free. Still, she wasn't about to distract him at such a time.

She counted more than a dozen jumps as they continued up, and then he landed and stayed still for a moment. Her arms around his neck could feel the muscles on his shoulders moving, and a moment later she saw sparks followed by a sliver of light. Her eyes widened as she realized he was forcing open a door, then narrowed again at the bright onslaught of light.

He stepped onto the floor and knelt, letting her off his back. She sat down without a second thought and blinked slowly as her eyes readjusted. When they did, she looked up to see that Inuyasha had stood again, and was facing a door. . . rather, what had once been a door.

It was the door to their lab! Had he broken it down? How, and why? He couldn't have heard her, could he?

"Stay here," he ordered her, and she almost stood up and slapped him. The only reason why she didn't was because she noticed the six stationed guards lying in heaps on the ground, each one sporting broken armor, a broken weapon, and a puddle of blood.

Her stomach churned and she opened her mouth to ask Inuyasha if they were dead or not, but he was gone. She saw him inside the lab briefly, followed by a blast from a proton-gun. Her eyes widened. Someone was attacking him! Was that why he told her to stay put?

She couldn't just sit here and watch. . . after all, he might be an escapee, and had attcked the guards. But then, why save her, and return to the floor which he escpaed to face off against one of the most dangerous weapons their time had produced?

"Sankon Tessou!" he snapped, slashing towards the blasts. Bright yellow slashes followed the trail of his claws, he disappeared from her line of sight in a rush, and someone cried out in pain. A moment later there was a sparking and the sound of metal crushing.

She couldn't sit here any longer. She got up and stepped around the wreckage of the door to see inside. Someone was on their knees, holding their left arm, head down, as Inuyasha stood before them, chin up, chest out, with the broken and crushed gun in one hand. Two tables were crushed and one more was toppled over.

"What _happened?_" she asked before she could stop herself.

Inuyasha looked at her sharply. "I told you to stay!"

"And I asked you a question!" she snapped.

They glared at one another for a long moment. Then the person on the floor made a daring lunge at Inuyasha –

Who didn't seem fazed in the least. He shoved the person aside, revealing it to be a man in all-white robes – well, now white with some red coloring.

"I was attacked," Inuyasha said while pacing a circle around the man on the floor. "This guy managed to take out those guards before coming in; I don't know how he got past the security measures."

With how Inuyasha talked about these things, it was obvious he wasn't new to it. Kagome looked at the door. "Why is the door smashed through?"

He chuckled. "I broke it down when I heard you scream."

She blinked, dumbfounded. "How did you get out?"

"I wasn't strapped, remember?" He gestured at the cell.

She looked it over from her place and found that the barrier was fizzing, the chair was askew, and there was a gaping hole in the left side of the cell -- undoubtedly how Inuyasha had gotten himself out.

There was a flaw. . . in the cell. Her jaw almost dropped as that hit her. The cell was supposed to be perfect, yet it wasn't -- and why had none of the other, strength-induced prisoners tried that same tactic? . ._ Because none of them were bright enough to think of it. _She turned her eyes back to Inuyasha.

"You're brilliant," she said aloud, then covered her mouth. "I didn't mean that!" she added, hoping she'd spoken in her born language and not Japanese.

Inuyasha was chuckling. "Yeah, real brilliant to claw my way out of a metal cylinder."

She blushed. When he put it like that. . . "Okay, so you're practical, which has nothing to do with brilliance."

He shrugged. "Brilliant enough to survive."

She heard footsteps coming towards the room and quickly stepped inside. "Inuyasha - !"

"I hear them," he interrupted. He tossed the broken gun towards her, which landed with a clang and slid over to her feet. He then sat up the man in white robes, had him face the entrance, and twisted the man's arms behind his back.

Kagome understood his strategy and turned to face the guards who showed up, guns aimed and raised – at Inuyasha.

One of them ran towards her and pulled her towards the exit. She resisted and said, "The threat is over!"

The head guard shook his head. "Prisoner is still loose!"

"Prisoner!" she scoffed. "Inuyasha is no prisoner -"

"Let the man go," the guard interrupted, speaking to Inuyasha.

"Hold it!" she yelled, taking on her full I'm-in-charge voice. "Inuyasha was attacked within his cell, fought the attacker who took out the usual guards, jumped down the elevator shaft to save my life, and returned to disable this vagabond!" she finished with a gesture at the man in white.

One of the guards spoke directly to her. "Crisis Counseling will be certain to assess this situation and treat you for your trauma."

"Trauma this!" she snapped, wrenching her arm from the grasp of the guard and turning on her heel. She half-ran, half-trotted over to Inuyasha and stood by him. "Inuyasha is not the enemy here."

The guards all looked at one another. Turning back to her, the leader lowered his weapon. "We will consult the recording of this attack before releasing either the prisoner or the man."

She narrowed her eyes. "For the last time, his name is Inuyasha."

Inuyasha chuckled beside her, seemingly having gotten the gist just now. "Inuyasha-chan?" he asked, looking up at her mischievously.

She blushed. "Never!" She knew what that meant; 'chan' was usually used as a cute nickname, but to call a man by that term was to suggest he was your boyfriend. "Inuyasha-kun."

He smirked. "Whatever I can get, I'll take."

She blushed redder. "Guards, you may take them now," she addressed them. The guards came forward – she counted ten before losing count with the sway of identical bodies – and restrained both Inuyasha and the man in white. The man in white struggled, repeatedly calling Inuyasha a 'mutant in need of purging' and other such insults. Inuyasha, on the other hand, gave her a trusting look and allowed the guards to restrain his arms and lead him out of the room.

Kagome took a moment and looked around the room while her mind came to terms with everything that had happened.

The main question behind all of this, was how that man learned of Inuyasha. She could imagine someone cutting through the guards, getting ahold of a fake ID card, and gaining entrance into the lab; but how had he learned of Inuyasha?

If he did know, he must've known Inuyasha was awake. If not, why bother to bring that gun? If he was no threat, there would have been no attempt on his life. Only ten people knew that Inuyasha was conscious: her team and the board members. Mr. Bell alone, if not all of them, making it five.

The room definitely was a mess. She found herself thankful that the others had left already, and then gasped. She should've been back home already, which means Ayumi would have called her – the girl would be panicking at the moment! Kagome cursed herself and searched her belongings for a transerter – the word the used these days for a phone, only these come with video recording screens which could be activated at any time or simply not used.

She lifted the transerter and said, "Ayumi Fitsunara, Shroud Employee of the Miyuna District." The Miyuna District was what they called this section of the metropolis, much like Old World area codes within a single city. It became a required thing to list the name, occupation, and location of the person you wished to speak to these days, given the huge amount of people who lived and in such close quarters. In the event that two people shared the same name, job and housing, their middle name or date of birth was also required.

That was _extremely_ rare.

The screen beeped to life and Ayumi's face was one of relief. _"Kagome,"_ she sighed. _"I was worried when you didn't call me as soon as I got home."_

"There was a bit of a setback at work," she replied.

_"Setback?"_ Ayumi echoed. _"Oh no -- that Inuyasha didn't get out, did he!"_

Kagome sat at her desk, which had thankfully escaped the thrashing the room took. "In a sense. In fact, he. . ." she paused and smiled. "He saved my life, Ayumi."

Ayumi looked positively shocked. _"Tell me everything! No, wait -- come over, then tell me everything! I'll be waiting, so be sure to get here as fast as you can!"_

"I'll leave right away, Ayumi," Kagome replied with a smile. "Fare well."

_"Fare well!"_

She flipped the transerter closed and looked around once more. The place was definitely a mess, but the janitors would get it cleaned in no time. By tomorrow, everything will be as it was before the fight and nobody would know the difference. . . perhaps she could even keep the secret from Sango and her husband, Miroku. But somehow, Kagome didn't like the idea of keeping a secret from Sango.

"I'll tell her," she decided aloud. "And if she wants to tell her husband, that's her choice." She stood up and headed for the exit one more time, deciding to take the stairs down this time.

It was very late, almost three in the morning, when Kagome returned home from Ayumi's. The reason why she'd stayed over for so long was because Ayumi had asked about everything, and Kagome had denied her no answers. She even got a little into it, herself. . . She found herself talking after a while and admitted that she was lusting for Inuyasha, and badly at that.

Ayumi looked like she was going to flip, but ended up smiling and saying she knew it all along.

"You knew it?" Kagome had echoed.

"I knew it," Ayumi confirmed. "I've heard you two argue and you know what they say -- the more a couple fights, the hotter they are for each other."

"You got into romance books again, didn't you," Kagome had said flatly in return; it hadn't been a question.

Ayumi had nodded. "I did, but that's not the only reason why I knew you liked him."

"What else is there?"

"You kissed him. Twice, he said," Ayumi had pointed out. "And on top of that, he keeps teasing you and you always rise to the challenge, whatever it is. You're the only one who feeds him, the only one who gets so close to him, the one who dressed him. And I think. . ." She had paused there before going on. "I think he's lusting for you, too."

To which Kagome had blushed. "No, he's a jerk and pervert and he deserves a few good slaps," she snarled in return. "And you're being suspiciously mellow about this. . ."

"I think it may be beyond lust, too," Ayumi continued on, ignoring her last statement. "I think he either really likes you, or. . ."

"Don't say it!" Kagome had begged.

"He loves you."

Kagome had intended on leaving after that statement, perhaps without so much as a 'Fare well', but she stayed much longer after that. They talked longer and more deeply, sometimes about Inuyasha, sometimes about her, sometimes about Ayumi's books. They made comparisons a lot, between those romance novels and how life was these days. Kagome found herself wishing to be the beautiful princess mage in a book, and Inuyasha, the shining hero who rushes in to save her, and the two of them together defeat their enemy and then ride off into the sunset. . . to be married and have. . . a wedding night.

As she entered her home now, thinking of these things, she found herself blushing. She had already told Inuyasha once that intercourse was outlawed; it was messy and disgusting and it caused many of the worst diseases. She herself couldn't believe she had gotten so close to him, to be okay with touching him, to have _kissed_ him before. It was all against good morals, if not the law.

While it isn't strictly outlawed to have physical relationships, it **is** outlawed to do so in public, or under scrutiny.

That's when it hit her. Not only had she kissed him twice, she'd done it in plain view of a camera! Oh, the board was going to fry her alive. . .

She tried not to think about her punishment as she went to her room, then to her bathroom for a long-deserved shower. Standing under the spray, she wished she had a bathtub like the luxury homes do. A nice, big, hot bath right now would have made all her worries fade away. . . It was too bad for her that she was still just upper-middle class with an upper-middle class home and upper-middle class wages.

It seemed strange to her that even though the Old World is now nothing but rubble, and yet they kept these classes into the New Age. Not just the classes, in fact, but the meaning behind them and the exact same titles for them.

Now she found herself wishing that she could leave this place, go into her dreams, and live there forever with the Shadowed Man. It didn't matter that she couldn't see his face like she wanted to; it made him mysterious and as long as he kept being so nice and considerate to her, if only in her dreams, she would be content to just be with him.

"You've got a really dreamy look."

She jumped. Her first thought was that Eri wasn't supposed to be in her room while she was showering, and her second thought was: _That's not Eri's voice._ She nearly panicked, making sure the door was closed the right away and turning her back to it.

"Wh-who's there?" she stuttered.

"Think about what language I'm speaking right now," the voice returned.

Her eyes bugged out in pure shock. **_Inuyasha!_** How'd he get out of the prison, how did he find her, what was he doing here, and why didn't he leave yet! Better question: Why hadn't her dogs barked!

"What are you doing!" she shrieked. The blood rushing to her face was making her highly dizzy and she swayed a little before leaning against the tile wall.

She heard him chuckle. "You look like you're about to fall over."

Her jaw dropped too, now. _He can see me through thick, foggy white tile!_ "Don't look at me, you pervert!"

"You spoke in that new language again," he returned smoothly.

"**Get out!**" she yelled.

The door opened and closed and with it, his footsteps took him away. She heard her bed squeak under weight and Inuyasha's chuckling again.

She shut off the water, grabbed a towel and started to dry herself off. She kept glancing at the door, making sure it was shut. Just who did he think he was, barging into someone's house without asking, entering their bathroom while uninvited, and peeking in on them while showering? What a _pervert!_

It seemed strange to her, as well, that she wasn't afraid. Her heart was thudding and that was true, but not in fear -- in anger. How could he have such audacity, anyway!

She wrapped the towel around her and stepped out, eyes narrowed, chin raised and flames following her. "Now what in hell do you think you're doing?" she snarled quietly.

He shrugged. "I decided to come by and see you." He glanced down at her legs, then back up. "You look good," he added teasingly.

"First question," she said, ignoring his statement entirely, "how did you get out of the prison?"

He smiled. "I let myself out. It was crowded and damp in there."

"Second question," she went on, "how did you find me?"

"A computer told me when I asked for it."

"Third question, why didn't my dogs here bark when you came in?"

"They did; that was hours ago."

"Fourth question, why didn't you make yourself known when I got here?"

"You would've shrieked and awoken Eri. She fell asleep an hour ago and has been sleeping like a rock."

"Fifth, why in hell did you go in the bathroom!" she snapped at last.

He smiled devilishly. "Payback."

She blinked, getting a cold feeling in her spine. "Payback?"

"Yes, payback." He stood up and continued that devil smile. "You saw me naked, I figured I'd return the favor. Next is. . ."

She swallowed. What was he planning on doing, now?

He gestured her bed, and when she looked at it, she saw some of her clothes laid out -- all in red. Her jaw fell. "What in the. . ."

"You dressed me; I'll dress you."

Her face flooded in heat. "No you will not!"

"Why not?" he asked, taking a single step forward. "I'm not gonna hurt you, and you know it."

She took a step back. "It's completely wrong! It's against the law and -"

"I read those laws," he countered. "We're not in public, now are we?" He took another step forward.

She swallowed again. "No, but. . . I deny you!" She took a second step back, which put her back against her wall. "I do not give you permission to -"

"You look really sexy like that," he commented in an off-hand way. "Wearing nothing but a towel," he began, and took another step towards her, "hair still wet, pressed against a wall. . . Anger in your eyes and embarrassment in your cheeks. Positively seductive." Again he came closer, this time leaving him no more than a foot away from her.

Her face warmed more. What was he thinking, or was he thinking at all? You couldn't just come into somebody's house, watch them bathe, suggest to dress them and then try to seduce them! "I deny you," she repeated, though this time her voice was shaking.

He smirked, very slowly lowering his head. "I choose you," he returned, softly.

All at once time seemed to freeze, watching him come closer to her like he was. She became aware of everything all at once, most especially that her body stopped responding to her will. She felt her hands on her towel, holding in shut at her chest in an iron grip. She could feel her hair against her neck and forehead, still drying. She could also feel the warmth radiating from the both of them, warming her skin and adding more heat to her cheeks and chest. In the back of her mind she heard one of her dogs begin to whine a little, and saw Daisy out of the corner of her eye – the girl had tilted her head, as though asking why, why Kagome was still bothering to resist.

Once again, a single word repeated in her mind: _Erotic._ Inuyasha had made such a simple move, stepping closer to her, allowing her the motions she'd need to get away, and speaking softly; all seducing her little by little, and proving all at once that he was alive, that he was real, that he was. . . erotic. And that she was loving it.

She had no protests by the time their lips met again, and she allowed her eyes to close at the contact. After all, why bother fighting a man who could not be defeated, even in death?


	6. Giving In And Resisting

**Claimer:** I own what has to be the smallest fraction of Inuyasha possible. So small I can't remember it. Heh, oh well. Moving on.

**Summary:** Meet Dr. Kagome Higurashi. She works in a recently developed portion of the Shroud Companies called "Metaphysical Understandings". What she does is analyze and report the supernatural things she's given, such as old Japanese Ofudas, Taro Cards, Crystal Balls and so on. And then she was assigned to the biggest discovery of the company: a demon-like creature recently uncovered in a deathlike sleep from under the surface of the Old World.

**New Age**

Chapter Six: Giving In And Resisting

It was entirely too intimate of a situation.

Kagome knew this, as she kissed Inuyasha, as she allowed him to kiss her, as he touched her, both above and under her towel; but it didn't stop her from enjoying the moment. Everything about him turned her on. He truly was erotic.

His lips alone were fiery, but as he kissed her, as she felt their tongues meet and a rush of pleasure begin in her chest, the word 'fiery' ceased to be amply descriptive. Warm, seductive, sweetly tasting, and something more, something. . . something that spoke to her, that lulled her into his arms, made her give in without a protest. His scent.

His touches were as great as his kisses. His fingertips were a little rough, the hands of a hard worker. His hands felt hot in and of themselves, seeking the more sensitive places on her body and massaging them. Every now and again, his claws would touch her here or there, very lightly, and it always made her shiver.

This was passion, lust. She didn't need to read romance novels to know that. It was as wild and uncontrollable as he was, which would easily explain why he had such power over it. She didn't know exactly when her towel was dropped, but soon she found herself liking the feel of being naked in his arms, at his mercy.

His mouth on her neck became a heavenly feeling, sucking on her skin and tasting her. His arms around her brought her closer to him, lifted her to her toes. She dropped her head back, swimming in a spring of warmth, of passion, of irresistible pleasure. She felt him lick her throat, lower to her collar bone, across the tops of her breasts.

Every bit of her was crying out for him to stop teasing and take her, and her lips moved thickly trying to voice them. He seemed to understand the mumbled sounds, for he paused in tasting her flesh and lifted her into his arms. With a few steps she was laying on her bed, and Inuyasha wasted little time in looking at her before he joined her.

His mouth was as hot and wet as it had been, only now there was a stronger hunger in the way he took her mouth as his, a need that would not be denied. Though she didn't understand it, Kagome didn't protest, lifting her arms to hold him close and allow him to take her.

He was still teasing, though. He kissed her so passionately, yet he did nothing to declothe himself. In fact, just as she was about to make him undress fully, one of her dogs barked, loud, at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

Kagome panicked.

Inuyasha, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind the sounds of impending doom. She had to use all of her control not to lash out at him, as he continued to devour her mouth – sucking at her tongue and robbing her of speech in two ways at once. She reminded herself forcefully that he didn't know the way the world worked these days, but even as she told herself this, she wanted to strike out at him, for making her body so weak to him and his. . . his scent. . .

She was losing herself again.

And then all Hell broke loose, as Eri peeped her head in to say something, and caught them. All at once Kagome's mind worked overtime, telling her in a cold voice that Inuyasha _hadn't_ closed the door to her bedroom.

"Kagome!" Eri gasped.

Then a whole lot of things happened at once. It began with Eri's statement. Then Inuyasha moved much too fast for them to see, a second later Kagome was wearing her towel again, Inuyasha was sitting on her floor in front of her bed, the door was shut, and Eri was sitting on the bed next to Kagome, who hadn't even realized she had moved yet.

"Eri. . ." Kagome began slowly. "Um. . . I don't really. . . know where to begin. . ."

Eri looked at Kagome very closely before turning her gaze on Inuyasha. "This is him, the. . . person. . . you found?" she asked very slowly, having difficulty deciding what to call him.

"Uh, yeah, this is. . . this is Inuyasha," Kagome confirmed. She was getting nervous, though. Inuyasha was facing them, but not saying a word, glancing between the girls slowly.

Kagome wet her lips. "He. . . came by," she tried, looking over at Eri again.

Eri's face was beginning to mimic Kagome's from moments before. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and she was looking at Inuyasha intently. That's when it hit Kagome – Inuyasha's scent didn't only affect her, but _every_ woman!

It occurred to her that if he went walking outside for any brief amount of time, he would return with women hanging off him, desperate for his touch, begging for his body and his children. And as that occurred to Kagome, another realization struck home.

She wasn't in love with him. Her body had responded to his automatically, because his scent drove her wild from the inside out. It had nothing to do with love, but pheromones, instincts; she had come to him willingly because he appeased her body's demands.

"Okay," she sighed, her mind clearing. Inuyasha's eyes met hers, and he must have seen rejection in her gaze, because his mouth tightened into a white line all at once and he stood. He didn't wait to be told to leave, he simply stepped out of her room, patting the dogs as they followed him, and faintly she heard the glass door open and shut.

He'd left. He was gone. She looked over at Eri.

Eri was staring after him, almost drooling as she wet her lips. "Why did you make him leave?" she asked, in an almost painful tone.

"I didn't," Kagome replied, and this was true; she hadn't done anything to make him leave, it'd been _his_ decision.

"Well, I'm going to bring him back," Eri said breathlessly, heading for the door.

"Wait!" Kagome snapped after her, jumping up and catching Eri's arm. As she spoke, she was mildly surprised to find that not only had Inuyasha wrapped her towel around her, but had done so securely. She doubted the towel would fall if she slept in it. "You can't, Eri," she said softly.

"Why not?" Eri pouted.

"We have to talk. . ."

Three hours and one huge explanation later, Eri was still looking like she wanted to go after Inuyasha, but after hearing the entire story, she was definitely focusing on holding back. Sometime later, during a form of dinner between the two girls and four dogs, the phone rang and Kagome picked it up.

"Dr. Higurashi speaking," she said.

"You've been removed from the team for the time being," a smooth voice said.

She almost dropped the phone. Stuttering, she asked whoever-it-was to explain what he knew.

"The specimen admitted he went to see you at your house, escaping custody to do so. Through analysis we found that he was recently aroused, and he doesn't deny attempting to seduce you. For your own safety, you have been temporarily removed from the research team on the specimen."

If he had said anything else, she would have snapped at him to call Inuyasha by his name, but at the moment, all she could do was lightly hang up the phone. She stood by it, watching the phone as Eri asked a million and one questions, until it rang again.

Picking it up a second time, Kagome said softly, "Hello, Ayumi."

"Kagome!" Ayumi squealed. "I heard, I heard! I called Yuka and told her what I know – is it true, he escaped just to see you? Are you okay? Tell me he didn't hurt you!"

Kagome handed the phone to Eri, feeling too numb to deal with an excited Ayumi at the moment. She shuffled her feet to her room as Eri talked twice as fast back at Ayumi, both of them giving what information they knew. As she sat down on her bed, all four of Kagome's dogs came up around her and whined, sensing her feelings as they always could.

Eventually all four began licking at visible patches of skin, two of whom were currently on her bed with her. It wasn't just that she was feeling bad, assimilating this information; she knew that. They had liked Inuyasha, as well. Part dog, he was part dog, she reminded herself.

Part dog. . . no wonder he could use his tongue like he had.

At that thought, normally she would have blushed, but she noticed Sam, her male husky, licking the side of her neck – where Inuyasha's tongue had been earlier. A little rougher than she'd intended, she pushed Sam away and covered the spot with her hand before she could stop herself.

Sam whined at her while her eyes widened. Why had she cared to cover the mark? Was there a mark?

She had to know, now that she'd thought about it. She wandered to her bathroom again in a daze, and turned her head at her reflection. A red mark, there on her neck. At the thought of his mouth sucking on her neck, two things came to mind: first, that he was _really_ good at it, and two, that he'd also spent some time sucking on her tongue.

Her mind receded to a few hours before, when she had begun her explanation to Eri. Yes, that was right – she'd had some trouble speaking, because her tongue felt oddly swollen and partially numb. She hadn't noticed until now, too wrapped up in her story to notice physicalities.

Opening her mouth, she gazed at her tongue, and found that while it didn't look any larger – which could easily be from having hours to go down – it was definitely redder than she remembered it being.

And she was salivating now, closing her mouth as she realized it. It was exquisite, the memory of his tongue, the taste and texture, the feel of it. . . Remembering his tongue brought up memories of his hands as well, touching her in ways she'd never before been touched, in places that only she knew. As she stared at her reflection, she noted the blush on her cheeks that hadn't been there moments before.

She also noticed that her legs were unconsciously pressed together tightly, and glared down at them as though they were traitors. She wasn't _that_ aroused. She couldn't be. No way, from just a memory. . .

. . . But it wasn't just one memory, now was it? It was several, over many minutes, punctuated with her own gasps and lights moans from them both. Had it really felt so good? It seemed so distant now that it was over. Like it hadn't happened. Like a dream. . .

A dream. . .

She was tired, she now realized. The entire day's events left her drained on all aspects, and she nodded at her reflection before leaving the bathroom at last. Crawling into bed, she didn't bother changing clothes or snuggling under the blankets. Sam laid on her ankles while Daisy curled up under one of her arms, and within seconds it seemed, she was asleep.

In her dream, she was gazing up at the sky again, lit with stars, breezes blowing through the trees, various kinds of rodents and other mammals prancing about in a near-endless field of grass, with an endless forest on the other side. Not knowing why, she started walking towards that forest.

Was her dream man here, now? It was early. Maybe he only showed up in her dreams later on, after midnight or so. But what time was it now? She felt like she'd been walking for hours, and that forest was only minisculely closer. Would she ever get there?

Finding herself determined now, she changed her steady walk into a kind of trot, noticing from the corner of her mind how her hair bounced around her shoulders, too light to be anything but heavy air.

The forest still wasn't getting any closer, but she was only getting more curious now. She turned her trot into a full run, seeing the way her legs ate up the distance, yet didn't get closer, even when she felt dream sweat pour down her cheeks and neck. The animals around her were running with her, trying to reach that elusive forest as well. Why, why couldn't she reach it?

Though she didn't stop running consciously, she found herself stopped abruptly, with the forest gone entirely. Standing before her was her mystery man. . . or was it? No, this one looked different. The white hair, the sparkling gold, they remained. . . but it wasn't him. Still, she didn't feel any fear or uneasiness.

"Who are you?" she asked, finding her voice both hollow and full at once, as though five of her had spoken, one of whom was dead.

He didn't say anything at first, and so she looked closely at whatever she could about him. His image was blurred from the neck down, but she saw mostly white – a kind of. . . cloud wrapped about one shoulder, trailing behind him like a sort of ethereal robe. Specks of red, yellow, blue; a strip of black across his chest.

Giggling. She heard giggling. It wasn't coming from him, the blurred man in silhouette, and she turned this way and that, trying to spot the giggling. Eventually she saw a girl, a tiny girl, almost entirely blurred – from distance? From mystery? Was she important, somehow?

She was on the horizon, running uselessly towards the new man before Kagome – she wasn't getting any closer, but as Kagome watched, the girl noticeably aged. First as a child, then a young teen, then an adult. . . and then she fell forward with a shriek.

What was this about? Kagome was worried about the girl, now. Did she hurt herself? Did someone hurt her? Why was she seeing this? She headed for the girl, finding again that travel was pointless, as she couldn't get any closer. She looked over her shoulder, trying to see that new man again, but found him missing.

When she looked back over to where the girl had fallen, she saw him there, not hardly as blurred but difficult to make out at this distance. He was holding the girl in his arms, staring down at her as though he'd lost a little sister. As Kagome watched, he cradled the young woman to his chest and lowered his head, hidden under bangs, pressed to the girl's shoulder.

And then she heard a deafening yell, a sound of such utter pain that she lost her footing and stumbled back, hitting something hard – something that caught her. She looked up, and there he was – or was it really him?

Her mystery man, the one who kissed her with love. . . could it possibly be. . ? His face wasn't hidden anymore, and though he looked familiar, she found she couldn't put a name to his face. She turned in his arms and hugged him, feeling him hold her close without words. The yell she'd heard a moment before came up to memory and she found herself chattering about it, her voice shaking for reasons she didn't understand.

"I know," he kept saying, over and over, and she found that she'd been crying into his chest. What's more, they were sitting now, at the edge of the unreachable forest. She looked around, shocked, and there in the distance, the second man and young woman remained. . . unmoving, like a painting.

"Who are they?" she asked, again finding her voice both full and hollow.

"My brother, and the only woman he's ever loved," he replied. "When she died, he lost everything that held him together."

"But she didn't look old. . . and neither did he. . . I'm confused," she admitted, her eyes filling again as she stared at the painting along the horizon. "Why can't I see them clearly? Why do you look familiar when I can't name you? This forest. . . earlier I couldn't reach it – I don't understand!" she yelled at last.

Lips on hers, warm and soft and firm; they calmed her world, made her sigh, and abruptly, she opened her eyes and found herself awake. There were now four dogs on her bed, curled around her, but other than that, nothing had changed.

She must have been sleeping for hours, because she felt stiff in all ways. She groaned as she got up, her dogs stretching as she bumped into them, and stretched what muscles she could.

"They sent in a woman named Kagura," a voice said, and Kagome screamed, jumping nearly out of her skin.

She looked sharply around the room before ordering the lights on and sighing, finding that Inuyasha had once again shown up. Holding her heart, his words digested in her and she looked up again. "What?" she asked.

"Dr. Kagura Ryuteisai. She took your place."

"I know of her," Kagome admitted, sitting down on her bed as Inuyasha came closer to her. He sat down near her, patting the dogs as she continued. "She's supposed to be really good, if not a little intimidating. Having problems?" she asked, surprised that she was so comfortable with this.

"I don't like her. Did they tell you why they replaced you? Can you tell me?" he asked, sharply.

Wetting her lips, she told him, stunned at herself for divulging such information so easily to someone who shouldn't even be asking. "So what's the problem with her?"

"She's been telling me what to do, through Ayumi-san. She can't speak my language like you and Ayumi-san can." He ruffled Sam's ears, then looked up with serious eyes, "Why did you send me away earlier?"

"I. . ?" she started. Shaking her head, she decided against giving in to him so easily ever again. "No. I didn't send you away. You left on your –"

"Your eyes," he interrupted harshly. "Your eyes said it. You told me to go away. You told me not to come back."

She was shocked at the accusation in his voice. Practically snarling, she snapped, "Well, if I did, you certainly haven't obeyed. I never made you come here in the first place. You only have yourself to blame!"

She almost screamed when he lunged at her, entirely feeling like she was about to become ribbons of meat, but he kissed her. It wasn't a rough kiss, either, but it was forceful enough that she fell back and once again found herself beneath him.

This time felt different, on all accounts. His kiss wasn't passionate, it was desperate. His hands weren't roaming, but clinging to her wrists like lifelines. He wasn't laying with his full weight on her, but was somewhat arched away from her, keeping contact minimal.

And she found she hated it.

Despite the light contact of their lips, the soft pleading his mouth was conveying, she felt desire well up inside of her, and wondered how long she'd last before she'd be begging for him to finish what he'd started so much earlier that day.

Then, all at once, her dream returned, even though she was fully awake and could hear her dogs whining at her side, curious yet obeying the feel of privacy of the situation. She saw her mystery man, with desperate eyes, almost sending her wordless pleas to not deny him.

Her eyes were open; she could still perceive Inuyasha on top of her; she could still feel his hands on her wrists and his kiss; but at the same time, she could see the man in her dreams, could feel his breath on her mouth from their distance, could see the golden sparkle in his eyes grow lighter with hope and courage.

And then, just like that, she was under a starry sky, and it wasn't Inuyasha on top of her anymore, but the figure in her dreams who stole her heart every night. It wasn't Inuyasha's mouth on hers, it wasn't his hands roving over her chest and hips, it wasn't him she was responding to.

The dream enveloped her even as she was aware of being awake, her senses retreating inwards and moving sharply in reply to the man above her, the man who now was stealing her breath with feather-light kisses and butterfly touches. She wasn't clothed, and neither was he; an easy motion on his part brought them closer together, and her response motion made her gasp in her dream as their bodies joined.

It felt like she was watching from a great distance while staying within her own body, as the two of them made love in the dream world. Hands roved freely over each other, memorizing the curves and dips available to them. Mouths met again and again in a kind of hunger indescribable, for it wasn't lust that drove them to where they were now, yet it was entirely lust at the same time.

Moments passed by, then hours, then days and weeks, laying in grass and moving together, both eventually dotted in sweat and cooled by the breeze that didn't end. Kagome was completely swept away, but she found that when she opened her eyes to see her dream man, her mind returned to her.

Unrecognizable, familiar, covered in shadows, bathed in light; who was he?

"Inuyasha," she said, and the moment the name escaped her lips, her dream faded and she was looking up into golden eyes that she fully understood now.

Their lips weren't touching anymore, only touching through their hands, now clasped. He didn't reply to her, simply stared at her, his eyes almost enveloping her entire being. She wondered if he was being swallowed by her gaze as well.

"It was you all along in my dreams," she stated. There was no doubt – all her memories of her dreams didn't show a silhouette anymore, but a man, the man above her, her man.

"Hai," he said, softly. "How much do you remember?"

She shook her head, not fully understanding what he was asking of her. Instead, she asked him, "Did you make the dreams happen?"

"Almost," he replied, not moving away from her in the least. "I can show you where the dream is. You have to choose to go there."

"So I chose."

He nodded, then smiled. "Even though it was just a dream of you. . . Kagome-chan, you felt amazing. . . all of you."

She blushed, both from his compliment, and his change in the name he called her. She glanced away, her mind trying to grasp the feelings of the dream and nearly overwhelming her as they came rushing back. She let out a shaky sigh as she struggled for control of her own body, which was nearly pointless as Inuyasha began raining butterfly-soft kisses along her cheek and down her neck.

"We have to heal the world," they said in unison, a realization that struck both at once from nowhere.

I own what has to be the smallest fraction of Inuyasha possible. So small I can't remember it. Heh, oh well. Moving on. Meet Dr. Kagome Higurashi. She works in a recently developed portion of the Shroud Companies called "Metaphysical Understandings". What she does is analyze and report the supernatural things she's given, such as old Japanese Ofudas, Taro Cards, Crystal Balls and so on. And then she was assigned to the biggest discovery of the company: a demon-like creature recently uncovered in a deathlike sleep from under the surface of the Old World. Her body had responded to his automatically, because his scent drove her wild from the inside out. It had nothing to do with love, but pheromones, instincts; she had come to him willingly because he appeased her body's demands. 


	7. The Shroud

-1**Claimer:** I own what has to be the smallest fraction of Inuyasha possible. So small I can't remember it. Heh, oh well. Moving on.

**Summary:** Meet Dr. Kagome Higurashi. She works in a recently developed portion of the Shroud Companies called "Metaphysical Understandings". What she does is analyze and report the supernatural things she's given, such as old Japanese Ofudas, Taro Cards, Crystal Balls and so on. And then she was assigned to the biggest discovery of the company: a demon-like creature recently uncovered in a deathlike sleep from under the surface of the Old World.

**New Age**

_Chapter Seven: The Shroud_

Kagome awoke to a shrill beeping and slapped her alarm clock off. As she blinked up at her ceiling, feeling one of her dogs lick her hand as it hang off the bed, she couldn't remember the previous night at first. Then she sat up and grinned. Oh, she remembered now.

Inuyasha had left to return once more after spending about an hour kissing her into what she could only describe as a 'relaxed frenzy'. Though he greatly aroused her, the entire time she'd been entirely too weak against him to act on it. The most she really did was kiss him back, or lie there and moan, sometimes writhe.

Before the kissing, however, was the plan.

She got up and got dressed in her lab gear, fed her dogs, and left. But she wasn't heading for the Shroud building. No, she was going to Ayumi's house. As with how buildings worked these days, there were two ways to enter your building: the scanner above the door can recognize you and open for you, unless you had a touch-pad which recognizes thumbprints, or you can break a door down.

Kagome was recognized and allowed into Ayumi's house, and vice versa. It was extremely simple to program another face or thumbprint to allow access to your home, and friends and family often did it. There was very little distrust these days.

And Ayumi's third floor was a giant lab. Kagome had another briefcase of samples from Inuyasha, which he willingly gave -- that is, without the sperm. She might have asked, and he might have suggested, but they both knew Kagome would giggle and blush and never do anything about _getting_ it.

She set up the samples and looked them over before grinning and getting started. She wondered what was happening with Inuyasha, just how restless he must be right now, but she had her job and he had his.

As Kagome knew Shroud in and out, and how to handle metaphysical items, she knew exactly how those who had his other set of samples would analyze them. And she was so much faster than them, really. She had so much more experience.

And dear god, even the _samples_ of him smelled good.

Every sample showed extraordinary qualities, as she'd expected. What she didn't expect was for a piece of his hair to wiggle as she introduced it with a chemical that was supposed to drain all the liquid from the hair. Instead of being drained, that piece of his hair actually rejected the chemical, making it seem as though his hair was trying to get away when it was simply reacting on a microscopic level.

Trying this out on his other samples, she found that all of him rejected chemicals, even doses of acid. A drop on his hair made it curl but not dissolve, a drop on his skin rolled off like water off a leaf. It was insane, fascinating, intriguing, frightening, and above all, precious. Inuyasha was, in a word, unique.

As she ran all the tests, she found one miracle after another, one impossibility trumping the next continually. She even tried separating his blood and plasma with a spinner, setting it off to the side while she worked. After three hours at a high speed, it was hardly diluted, and more stunning yet, it mixed again with seconds.

She laughed in her surprise as she learned more and more about his body, and at last ran a test on his skin and hair than analyzed the scent properties.

Amazingly, it wasn't simply that he was a man among men in a world where real 'men' no longer exists, although you really couldn't claim that it didn't factor in. No, he was actually releasing a chemical which called mates to him, even if he didn't realize it. No matter what, females will come to him as long as he's producing that pheromone.

But even more shockingly, that was hardly the half of it. Naturally, his scent was as unique as he was, which alone would make others drawn to it. But further than that, it seemed it was genetic. He had said he had a brother. Following the rules, that would mean that his brother had such a scent as well, possibly stronger or weaker from age or gene luck.

Ultimately, Inuyasha had three strong factors which made him smell so alluring, and now that she understood it, it seemed perfectly alright to enjoy it. She couldn't stop her giggle at the thought; maybe next time she'd snuggle into his neck as he'd done to her, and start sniffing deep, maybe add a lick or kiss or both.

With any luck, she'd be able to put him in the stupor he'd left her in last night.

But she shook her head. Work still needed to be done.

Getting back to it, she glanced only once at a screen which showed a view of the front door, then went back to her work.

Inuyasha, meanwhile, was about ready to tear things apart out of frustration and boredom. Though he and Kagome had made a sound plan of what to do about his 'freedom' or lack thereof, it was extremely difficult keeping himself settled. For one, that Kagura lady was a headache unending.

She knew very little about him, and didn't seem interested in knowing more than she already did. She was rough and had a voice like a harpy when things didn't go her way. More than once she'd screeched at her team or Inuyasha, even both at times, until everyone obeyed -- simply to end her voice.

On the plus side, Inuyasha had been talking to Ayumi-san a lot, and between his under-the-breath insults to Kagura, soft tones, and his ability to read expressions for what they were, (something he had to learn how to do some time ago) the girl really seems to be warming up to him. At least, she doesn't stutter or shake when they speak anymore.

Most frustrating about this situation was the search he'd undergone each time he'd returned from 'escape'. A few soldiers patted him down for any concealed items while two dozen more -- both human and mechanical -- kept armed and ready weapons pointed at him. What these humans didn't seem to understand was who had the real power here.

If Inuyasha had wanted, those guards and policemen would be _nothing_ against him. They wouldn't land a hit, from fist or gun, and they'd all be down in seconds, if not dead. They were stupid for being so smart, weak for being so strong, and docile for being so independent. He had a bad feeling about the higher-ups in this organization, and his instincts served him well in the past.

Kagome felt it, too; once he'd awakened her abilities. Technically first he'd had to convince her of who she was, truly, and then get her to believe in reincarnation and who she once was. His feelings for her previous body remained, though diminished, and likely always would. However, he'd been dealing with death his entire life, and he'd already gotten over Kikyo's end.

Kagome was his future now. Though he didn't want to see her die, or even sick or hurt, he knew that unless she found a way to become immortal, he was going to outlive her.

A dark thought, that.

So he focused instead on driving Kagura mad, making it seem like he didn't understand what she was saying even when Ayumi-san translated, and to their credit, the rest of the team merely smiled and nodded, refusing to aid Kagura more than they had to.

_Kagura._ What a name. Though she looked drastically different than the Kagura he once knew as an enemy, the unpleasantness was still there. She was as much a witch as a human could be. Inuyasha knew that for a fact because his nose worked as well now and as it always has, and told him without doubt that this Kagura was human.

Although, his instincts were very confused about her. On the one hand, she was strictly a human, with no powers perceivable by Inuyasha, making her a zero potential threat. But again, she was an employee of Shroud, and seemed overly devoted to her role. She could cause a problem in the future, but just as much, she might betray Shroud and harshly if she learned that they were betraying her.

A trait of the name, perhaps.

Locked in and strapped down, there was little for Inuyasha to do in his cell. Twice this day he'd taken a snap at Kagura for being the bitch she is, as she walked by or got too close. He made it abundantly clear that only Kagura got on his nerves in such a way, by cooperating completely with Ayumi-san, Sango-san and Miroku-san. Still, all three knew that if Kagome were here, he'd be making a fuss whenever any one of them tried to work with him instead of Kagome. Perhaps he was as shameless as he's been told before, but he had no problem showing affection for the one he wanted -- even and especially in front of others.

He shook his head, deciding for the moment to pretend he hadn't heard Ayumi-san's translated orders. About ten minutes later of zero cooperation, Kagura became so enraged at his difficulty that she shut down the field and slapped him.

Given her size and what he knew of her body structure, she'd slapped him about as hard as she could. It did little to harm Inuyasha, however; in fact it barely stung, and only briefly. He smiled at her, showing a single fang, and that seemed to make her snap.

About damn time.

Grabbing a syringe from her desk, she made a banshee yell, straddled him, and repeatedly stabbed downwards. One of the piercings shaved the skin beside his left eye when he dodged it as much as he could, while another scratched his upper lip. Miroku-san got her off him then, and she kicked violently, hitting his stomach, and then the field went up again.

He licked his lip, tasting a very faint coppery tinge. For all her strength, her rage, and the sharpness of the syringe, she hardly scratched him. He felt no leakage beside his eye, either, and merely watched as Kagura was taken into custody by the outdoor police units. Judging from the repeated beeps and whirs from the 'Swear Detector', she was cursing the whole way.

Once the door had shut once more, all three in the room looked pointedly at him, seemingly shocked that he wasn't full of bloody holes. He grinned at Ayumi-san and said, "I'm mostly unbreakable."

She laughed weakly and translated for him, then asked, "And you failed to mention that before now?"

He shrugged. "Nobody asked, and really, it's a point of whether or not I let myself be hurt."

She looked surprised even as she translated. Then she said, quite clearly, "You told Kagome."

He grinned again. "There's no secrets between us."

He noticed that she didn't translate that, or what she had said, either. She continued, "How did you get Kagome to trust you?"

"I became the man of her dreams," he half-joked.

Obviously confused by that, she opened her mouth to inquire, but thought better of it and shook her head.

What none of them noticed, as they worked and talked, was that he was listening. Talking with Kagome each night was teaching him her language. Listening to the others was helping. As long as he feigned ignorance, they spoke freely.

News reports had deemed him a 'Subject of Shroud Inquiry and Historical Significance,' and they had listed what Shroud allowed them to about him: first, was his basic abilities that they knew of -- that is, his strength and speed -- his known heritage, being Japanese, and only knowing the Old World Japanese.

Or so they thought.

He'd been around the world twice before he'd died. There was so much to see and do, that it would have been considered selfish to refuse them all. He learned the most basic languages, because everywhere you go, you will at least one person who will understand you that way -- if only partially. Communication was key in those times.

Monopoly seemed key in these times. One company keeping all of mankind employed, paid, protected, and completely silent. Of course _they_ didn't know it, because they all were born and grew up in these circumstances. But Inuyasha saw, as did Kagome, now that she trusted him entirely.

By asking Ayumi-san questions of her politics, and her and Kagome speaking every night, Ayumi-san herself was beginning to see. It becomes more apparent every time he walks the streets, watching people. For being the biggest story in Shroud history, very few people even glanced at him as he wandered among them.

They knew his face, knew what he was, knew _who_ he was, and that nobody totally understood how he is how he is. Yet they were so absorbed in their lives, in what Shroud tells them to do, that they couldn't _see_ him.

Shroud eventually accepted that they weren't going to keep him in that cell every night. No matter what they did, what plans they had, what security measures they tried, they couldn't keep him where he didn't want to be. After nearly two months of this repeated routine, they accepted it.

And they signed an agreement with him. He would lend his knowledge, his abilities, and his body, to Shroud. In return, they would allow him free access of the outside world and the lab, including specific floors of this building and others, and his choice to make Kagome-chan his lead researcher once more.

By this time, he already knew their language, but didn't let them know that.

Kagome had done every experiment, taken every sample that Shroud would have, but before them -- and she kept that knowledge to herself and him, doing each procedure again, for show. But he could see, as well as the rest of the team, that she was not being overly 'careful' about it as she seemed on camera -- no, she was secretly and minimally sabotaging each sample, to make him seem less amazing than he was.

And so eventually, all of Shroud was underestimating him. But not his team. Kagome shared the true results only with them, and only away from Shroud.

They _were_ a team, really. Inuyasha felt more like the alpha rather than the prisoner by now. He chose where to go, what to do, and one or two of them came with, sometimes all four. And as more time passed, more people began waking up, and began noticing him.

In this city, there were walkways everywhere, but not on the original Earth layer. The walkways were suspended between buildings, some still under construction, and all covered to prevent falling or being blown to the ground. He wondered how many people plummeted to their deaths before putting there barricades in place by law.

Men stopped to talk, women stopped to stare or sniff, and children of all ages stopped to gape. He was a huge subject of interest, and felt his pride swell at the knowledge. For _once,_ he was more popular than his brother, not that Sesshomaru wouldn't have gotten stares were he here. That had little to do with it.

No, the point was, Inuyasha was here, people were awe-struck, women were constantly falling in love, and Kagome-chan -- his sweet little ferocious Kagome-chan -- was constantly jealous. Luckily, on the rare occasions where Kagome-chan looked about ready to hurt one of the females, all he had to do was hold her close to him.

It got even more stares, sure, but he learned quickly that his scent, while alluring, was also soothing. Holding Kagome-chan to him made her forget about anger, or jealousy.

And after these months had passed, he finally asked her about having a more physical relationship. At first she faltered and told him he was crazy, which he probably was, really. But then she asked him why.

And so he told her.

"Kagome-chan, you are wonderful. In all aspects. And our dreams. . ." He paused to chuckle. Their linked dreams had continued through all this time, even when apart, but the more passionate dreams only occurred while touching. "To put it bluntly, it's hard to imagine needing physical satisfaction when those dreams. . . Well, I'm sure you can understand this pretty easy," he added, laughing to himself.

She looked confused.

Inuyasha just about tracked down her parents and strangled them. Had they taught her _nothing?_ Does anybody anymore teach their children about their own bodies? Going on to explain, he added, "In my time, it's not uncommon for couples to explore each other, sexually, before marriage. Oftentimes they do it without thinking of marriage, but that's not the point. . ."

Kagome-chan had paled. She snapped out, "What kind of a person could _play_ with their own bodies so dangerously like that!"

"Dangerously?" he echoed, eyebrows raising. "Koishii, you haven't seen dangerous. . . In my time, demons were everywhere. Very few people, if any, lived and died without seeing one, and only a few more hadn't had to fight one off. My very 'career' was protecting others from these demons, especially around one particular village -- but I was a traveler. I protected everyone innocent or in need, I slew demons left and right who attacked, I even helped out those with too heavy of a burden or work load for them to carry.

"I was a danger _magnet_ and haven't a scar to show for it," he finished. "Compared to my life, sex could hardly be considered. . . Why are you blushing?"

She stuttered and shook her head. "It was, well. . . The word. . .that is. . ." She bit her bottom lip.

He went very still for a moment. And very slowly, he said, "Sex?"

Her blush deepened and she looked away. Inuyasha absolutely burst out laughing, falling back on her bed and brushing his bangs back. "Oh," he sighed after a time. "Unbelievable. How incredibly modest. We'll have to just fix that. . ."

"Fix _what_?" she snapped, and he laughed again at how chagrined she sounded. She shoved his shoulder and then, boldly, straddled him, grabbing the sides of his face and forcing him to look at her. "I'm not incredibly modest and there's nothing about me to fix!" she yelled.

His retort was so ready, so perfectly executed, any onlooker would have sworn it was rehearsed. He flipped her over, moved atop her so he wasn't touching, and said, quietly, "Prove it."

She looked surprised; he tilted his head. And then her arms linked around his neck, pulled him down, and she kissed him with the hidden passion he always knew was just beneath the surface.

Kagome could hardly believe the ways things had turned since that night. At first her intention was to prove to him that she was capable of being just as unhindered as Inuyasha was, and then leave him hanging, having made her point. But somewhere along the way things had bent to his will.

He had shielded her from the pain of her first time, but what she really needed protection from was his passion. Though he had held back and told her that every time following would only get better, she was still caught off guard for just how great of a lover he was. The way he looked, the way he smelled, the way his mouth had tasted and everything he'd done; it had all made her want him, even as she was swept away by him.

Her first time had ended with extremely confusing and conflicting emotions. On the one hand, every last sensation had been so strong, she'd had to check her pulse to be sure she was still alive. On the other, her state of mind was mostly wondering why it had to end _there._

The next morning, she understood.

And from there, as he'd said, it all got better. He taught her a lot, beginning with how everything could be pleasurable to the right person, and you discover a large part of yourself by learning what you like. Her spared nothing in showing her this lesson, and afterwards, she had a whole new view of herself: as a sexual being.

He taught her that every position you could be in had its own pleasures, and that, too, was something you had to experience to discover. But more pointedly, he taught that pleasure not only comes from what your lover does to you, but what you do to your lover. He encouraged her to explore him as he'd done to her, and every little thing she learned brought them closer.

One of the first, strongest things she'd learned, was that Inuyasha made a variety of sounds -- some of which didn't even sound like his voice. She couldn't be sure how he made them without doing an autopsy, but she knew they were coming from his chest.

And she teased him constantly about some of the sounds, some of the purrs and grunts and growls. So he teased her in return, until she stopped -- which didn't take long. Commenting on her different flavors had nearly made her pass out from shock, and they both learned that they simply shouldn't 'tease' each other about what they learned anymore.

Five months since his awakening, with a now physical relationship, near-freedom, and overall ease about him, they finally got the break they were looking for. Shroud's top employees: their full names, occupations, official housing, and most-used secondary housing.

Now that they had this information, however, they needed to be far more careful. While Kagome had trust in Mr. Bell, the others all gave her bad feelings, and in any case, they couldn't move on what they knew until Inuyasha was officially 'freed'.

And then, then Shroud would at last fall, with or without the top corporates' help, and finally, the healing of the Earth and humanity could begin. For better or worse, time would only tell.


	8. Discovering

**WOW. I can't believe myself. I had three whole chapters of this fic I never posted. Well, I'm posting them now. Gawd I'm an idiot.**

**New Age**

_Chapter Eight: Discovering_

Mr. Bell sat at his desk in his home and sighed. It wasn't a good idea, and he'd known that before he started this coup, to send a spy to study what was going on. He didn't trust the other board members anymore, no matter how they claimed to have _not _changed. They saw this specimen, Inuyasha, as a tool and not a person. Something that could make them far richer than they already were.

What was the use of such money anymore? All of the board members, himself included, were already the richest people on the planet. Shroud owned or took part in nearly every organization thus far. Mr. Bell himself had seen to it that no one was treated ill, that they would uphold their faith in Shroud and see the company as what it once stood for: the unity of the planet under peace.

Now, he couldn't describe what it was anymore. Once upon a time he'd been a seventeen-year-old with his own ideas and a team of friends who shared those ideas. The world was strict as he'd been raised, and yet somehow, crimes still happened with as much ferocity as it was before the Fall. It had nearly driven him mad, seeing all the chaos around even as those with good in their hearts tried to right it. And so he'd created Shroud with his friends, named in honor of the Shroud of legend that once covered Jesus upon his death.

They once hoped that Shroud could straighten the lives of everyone, and while it did that to an extent, he wasn't seeing the results he'd longed for. Shroud began as a council, where people could come or call in, and shamelessly explain their lives. And those around would try to help them. Soon Shroud was taking donations and hiring workers to clean up the town he'd been born and raised in. . .

And the police themselves upped in numbers as more and more people committed to the idea. The idea grew and grew and began expanding to eventually encompass the world, touching the lives of every person who could reach. He and his "friends" became the leaders, the thinkers, the upholders.

Shroud itself was brought into every subject, and soon everyone wanted a job at Shroud, for it paid well, was under control, and always had an opening you wanted. So Mr. Bell had leaned back and watched with prideful eyes as his company became what children dreamed to work with, not seeing how his friends and fellow leaders grew colder and more attached to the money they were receiving.

And so when his eyes opened to the corruption beginning to take place, he'd stood up and tried to control it, never meeting the board members' heads straight on, until now. . . Now, when he had little choice anymore except to spy and try to dig up dirt. No judge in the world would convict all of the board members at once, no matter the evidence, and so either the company must be disbanded. . . or he had to take them down, one by one, and replace his former friends with people who still believed in the idea, and not what you could gain from it.

However, his spy was only one person, and there were several to watch. He personally kept his eye on the happenings of Inuyasha and the research team assigned to him – most especially Kagome Higurashi. She was the main point of interest, not just to Inuyasha or Mr. Bell, but to many of the lower researchers. Head of a great team at seventeen; she was something.

And it was obvious Inuyasha was very fond of her. He made little trouble when she told him not to, obeyed what she said, spoke to her most of all, argued and then flirted, and had been spending nights at her home.

Perhaps those two were meant to be, but that knowledge – Inuyasha meeting her during the night – had nearly spread to the media multiple times over the past five months, and it was only getting harder to contain. If the public knew their relationship, there would be an uproar about it, and then very possibly many of the workers would quit.

Or worse, they would think Kagome achieved her job as head researcher from giving herself to her subject, and others studying human subjects would try it as well.

From the reports given, Kagome stated that Inuyasha produced a smell that lured females to him with little reluctance on their part, making Inuyasha dangerous to wander alone from the prospect of females trying to jump all over him at every turn. The people of this time had great control over their bodies and urges, but it would only last so long.

Kagome herself had proved that.

He had a recording of the second day in the research lab, how Kagome had gone around regulations to cover the modesty of Inuyasha, and had stayed too long. Their conversation had been translated and so Mr. Bell knew what had happened, though the camera hadn't been able to decipher that part from its angle.

Another recording Mr. Bell had on hand was the fight of the third day. Without much trouble, Inuyasha had literally clawed and punched his way out of his cell to take on the challenger, but had instead dodged the man and leapt out of the room – breaking the door completely down – and out of the camera's sight. It had been a shock when he returned on camera, with Kagome on his back.

The reports stated how he had saved Kagome's life from the faulty elevator and though it had been thoroughly investigated, they couldn't determine what had caused the elevator to fall. The cable had remained intact; in fact it had stopped short of crashing at the bottom, five levels under the building itself. The emergency breaks had been jammed at first, refusing to catch the elevator until the twentieth level, when it began slowing at last.

Someone had to have been in control of that elevator, which meant someone had tried to kill Kagome directly, while another was after Inuyasha.

What didn't make sense was the situation itself. The briefcase of samples was a decoy; so was the shooter. The point had been to get Kagome in the elevator, to get Inuyasha distracted, and then cause Kagome's doom. Had she not been rescued, Mr. Bell was certain the elevator would have crashed instead of stopped.

It had been hard when Mr. Bell ordered Kagome off the project during the investigation, knowing she was by far the most qualified applicant and the only one who could truly control Inuyasha. It was pure luck when Kagura had attacked Inuyasha with a syringe and successfully got herself on suspension without pay, eliminating her from the project and allowing Kagome back in.

By then, Mr. Bell was positive that the only person who could keep her safe was Inuyasha himself, and had battled the other board members about Inuyasha's freedom outside of the lab. If Inuyasha could go everywhere with Kagome, the girl would be safe, no matter what happened or who attacked.

Probably the most amazing stunt Inuyasha had pulled to date was a second assassination along a building-to-building walkway. Not only had Kagome been with him, but the rest of the team and half a dozen bystanders. One of the fastest aircraft to date had zipped by, releasing a single rocket aimed for the walkway and then disappeared, out of sight before it could be caught.

Inuyasha had been aware of it long before the rocket had been in sight, and ushered everyone out of the way not a second too soon. What he hadn't taken into account was the gust of air that followed the explosion, which effectively yanked out a mother and her child from the other side. On top of that, the walkway was hanging dangerously from on end of the building.

Not waiting a second, Inuyasha had leapt out of the building towards the mother and child, and not only had he caught them, but stopped the fall by shattering a window and bringing them inside. Cameras caught him telling them to stay back from the window (surprisingly in their own language and not Japanese), and then he had returned to the fallen walkway – by leaping and clawing his way up the side of a building.

Spectacularly, he had broken the other side of the walkway clean off by jumping extremely quickly and yanking on it, twisting it as his claws had dug into the cement, and then he had fallen. Several dozen cameras placed along the outer buildings caught his entire fall to the ground, as he moved under the walkway.

The landing itself shook the ground enough that the camera fizzed out for a split second, then saw him holding the fallen walkway above his head. As heavy as it was, it had split when he landed, with both sides crushed on the ground and many chunks of it scattered around him. The ground beneath his feet had been cracked and compacted, but Inuyasha himself was unscathed.

He'd returned to Kagome after making sure the other side of the walkway's pedestrians understood the danger of being close to the edge, and Kagome had been hysterical. When asked why he broke off the walkway and fell, Inuyasha had explained that if he hadn't, it would have fallen by itself and nobody below would have seen it coming.

Microphones were standard-issue after that for all cameras, as not a one had caught his yell for anyone below to move out of the way. His save had become a legend in the net, with headlines such as, "Mutant Saves Dozens" and "Dogboy Protects Innocents", and had several dozen appearances on the news and talkshows.

He even was called in for an interview, to which Kagome attended and translated for him. Again and again, he was asked why, why did he try to save them, why did he care, and most of all, what was he?

Kagome had translated, "I'm a half-demon. It doesn't mean what you think it does. It means my father was far supernatural, though my mother was human. You ask me why I bothered to protect the humans, I ask you why did the humans of my time hate me? Because they did; because I did. Because I knew it was going to happen, because I had the power to prevent it from doing what it was meant to. Because the people of this time are supposedly trying to understand, so I'm giving them reasons to understand and trust me. And because Kagome would have throttled me if I hadn't."

Kagome had stopped there and blushed, then slapped his arm. Inuyasha had simply grinned back. And the interviewer, a popular man by the name of Clark Toons, had actually coughed nervously and asked about their relationship together.

Whatever Inuyasha had said made Kagome blush redder and punch him on the arm. Clark had asked what Inuyasha said, but Kagome shook her head and replied that it'd been a joke.

Anyone who understood Japanese would know what he said, but it was an extremely rare language to know in this age, much like Latin was a near-dead language before the Fall. His words had been, "Kagome is mine as I am Kagome's."

Simple, yet profound. It had obviously struck a cord in Kagome, as for a week afterwards during work, Inuyasha teased her endlessly while she, on the other hand, had few replies.

Looking at the computer screen once more with interest, Mr. Bell eyed the cameras and tried to spot his spy. She was to come for a report today, scheduled at 8 pm, but she was well known for showing up early to all things. To counter, she also had a habit of waiting patiently and totally still for the correct time to approach, unless she observed a better opportunity beforehand.

"Bell."

He jerked. She was so sneaky, it wasn't funny. Standing up, he gestured the chair in front of his desk in welcoming. "Please, sit."

She appeared in the chair more than he saw her move, seemingly melding from out of the shadows to obey the simple order. "Your report," she went on, pulling a wad of papers from her jacket's inner pockets. She handed them to him.

"I still don't see why," he replied, taking them and sitting himself, "you won't simply use a memory stick to carry the information, Cardinal."

"Computers do not like me," she said offhandedly.

"Or perhaps that is your excuse." He flipped through the papers, catching an entry here and there.

"Paper can be burned and be gone. Memory sticks can be repaired and saved. Paper is easier to destroy."

"And if corrupted, paper cannot be fixed, either," he agreed. "It's an advantage and disadvantage depending on your view." Reading the first paragraph, he nodded. "Carson, that old fool. . ."

"You seem disappointed, Bell." Cardinal leaned forward with conspiracy in her eyes. "Mixed feelings?"

"Carson was once my closest friend," he replied harshly, biting back a sob at the memories. "For him to have fallen so far, I have to believe that mankind is truly doomed."

"Not so."

He looked up at her. "Oh?"

"There is a man I know who remains stoic about justice in this world, and another I have heard of."

"Who are these?" he asked, intrigued. His mind tried giving him the answers, but he wasn't listening to his own mind at the moment.

"A man known as Mr. Bell and the other as solely Inuyasha. I have also heard that Inuyasha has a female of impeccable righteousness."

He laughed. "Trying to flatter me will not bring you a raise, Cardinal."

"If I were trying to flatter you, at this moment you would be asking to be released from Heaven," she replied evenly. "I speak the truth for now."

"And the next moment?"

"We shall see."

He smiled. "Your work is only becoming more amazing," he almost cooed. It was too bad that their ages were so far apart. If he were as young as she, he would have asked to be partnered with her. Clever little thing that she was; he loved wordplay with her.

Sadly, or perhaps a godsend, there was a rule upheld very strongly about their new lives in this new age: partners are never more than ten years apart in age. Mr. Bell himself had been married for almost twenty years to date, and had two children from the union.

But his wife rarely stimulated his mind and wit as Cardinal did. Still, he held himself back from making such thoughts obvious; she was an employee and he was her current employer.

"I'll expect another report one week from today, by midnight."

"Expecting something big?" she asked, standing.

He tapped his fingers together in deep thought. "Carson is planning something. We shall see." His eyes twinkled at the slight joke, using her phrase against her.

She raised a brow and then turned around. Within moments she was gone, and once again he was left wondering exactly how she'd left. Window, door, attic, basement, secret passageway, _magic?_ Who ever knew when it came to her?

He smiled. She was definitely intriguing, perhaps more so than Inuyasha.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha himself was fully aware of being watched and judged. It was a kind of sixth, or possibly seventh, sense for him. The sixth sense was one humans dubbed as always knowing where you are and where you're headed. He didn't quite see that as a sense, but by simply agreeing he made the humans around him that much more shocked.

He thought of confronting the person who was watching him, but he felt no danger from it to date. Someone was watching and only watching, and seemingly not for ill intentions. Still, he made sure to not show the extent of his abilities; like with full-blooded demons, he was gaining strength and immunity with age. He didn't know how long he was partially dead, but it added a lot.

Hell, he didn't know the extent of his abilities yet. He needed to train somewhere and find out. But not now, no, right now he belonged to Kagome.

She was so cute when she slept. Especially when her face was still red from exertion. It was hard to hold himself back when she took the initiative during lovemaking, and it usually ended with a very happy hanyou whose female was often red-faced afterwards.

He reached out and brushed her hair back from her forehead, smiling at her. She smiled in return and stirred in her sleep, cooing softly. Her reactions to his presence only made him grin wider, happy that Shroud had allowed him to stay with her for full nights. Out of 'protection' for their 'property', or so they said, they refused to allow him to be missing for more than a whole day, which meant Kagome would either work every day, or Inuyasha could pick Saturday or Sunday to stay with her all day.

That was another odd thing about the New World he was living in. Despite what Kagome said about changing mostly everything from the Fall to Now, the days, months and holidays remained – if a few specific days were removed, such as Halloween.

Sad, that. He hadn't ever participated in that day directly, but watching it was always fun. Trying to pick out the real demons among the pretenders, trying to spot true Celestials in a maze of wannabes; dog-girls. . .

Oh, how often he saw women dressing up as cats, dogs and mice, and pretty much everything. Sexy witches, gangster girls, psychos and murderers, maids and nurses; such beautiful costumes on far more beautiful females, made to make the male mind implode upon itself.

Even so, he couldn't compare a memory to Kagome. Even her past incarnation, Kikyo, had nothing on her. He wondered if Kikyo realized his and her mistake after death and went on to correct it before reincarnating. Or perhaps Kikyo took her grudge to the grave, yet Kagome evolved beyond it. She certainly had no anger for him, that was true – unless they were arguing.

His mind brought him images of her angry face, with pink cheeks and a fire in her eyes that crippled everything around her. Gradually, those images turned into others of the line: blushing, sighing, cooing, crying out, murmuring; all involving pink cheeks and various solid emotions in her eyes. She was never uncertain.

. . .She was never uncertain.

He sat up as it hit him. Kagome always knew what to do, and when to do it. Which meant only one thing, even if she herself didn't know it: she was psychic. Perhaps not consciously, but she knew these things. She led him onto a walkway, claiming the building was cold – led him away from a teaming mass of people who would have died if that rocket had struck the building instead.

She chose this job against her better judgement, allowed him freedom when everyone else wanted to bar him in, never left him out of a conversation. . . Perhaps only where he was concerned, but it was working, wasn't it? They made a perfect team in that sense. Hanyou who as of yet doesn't know his own powers, and a human who can direct him where he needs to be.

But should he really tell her that?

It was the next morning when he asked her about something that had been bothering him for some time: Mr. Bell. He knew very little of the man, yet Kagome seemed to trust him. He asked her the very simple question of, "Why do you trust Mr. Bell?"

Kagome looked surprised. "I'm not really sure. He just doesn't come off as a bad guy to me."

Inuyasha tapped his claws on her breakfast table, two of her dogs napping on his feet. "You sure he's worthy of trust, Kagome?"

She smiled, walked over to him and promptly sat in his lap. She kissed the side of his face as she answered, "I haven't been wrong before. I mean, I trusted _you_ didn't I?" she teased.

"Oy!" he snapped, offended. After another moment the offense went out the window and he sighed, holding her where she was. "Still, I want to meet this guy. Or at least talk with him," he amended, knowing these Chairmen didn't like meeting people in person.

She sighed. "I can send him a message, but no promises. I don't know how busy Chairmen are."

"On the other hand," he started playfully, "I could always break into his house. . . capture him. . . and torture him for answers."

She laughed, knowing full well he was joking. "Inuyasha, really," she scolded softly. "You need to take a chill pill."

"Oy!" he snapped, though this time from surprise. "I thought no one talked like that in this age?"

She smiled slyly and slid off him, going back to her tinkering with food behind the counter. She didn't answer, but gave him a devilish smirk. The kind that hid things. . . such as secrets.

He followed her, the dogs whining as he took his feet from them. Hugging her from behind, he nibbled on her ear seductively. "Oy," he cooed this time. "Can I have an answer?"

She cooed in response, probably more from the way his hands were scoping out her hips than the nibbling. She giggled nonetheless, replying, "Mayyyybe."

He growled a little. Just as he was about to "molest" her for information, Eri hobbled downstairs with a yawn behind her hand, effectively halting the fun he had started. Mumbling angry curses at the woman, he left Kagome and took his seat again.

Eri looked at him funny and asked a laughing Kagome what his problem was. He pretended not to understand as Kagome remarked that his "fun" with his most recent "plaything" can't be had with Eri present. It was hard to fight off the smirk and harder still not to chuckle. She certainly had a way with words when she could think clearly.

Later on, back in Kagome's room, he brought up the subject of being watched constantly.

She shrugged. "I imagine a lot of people would be watching you. You _are_ the biggest subject on the planet at the moment."

He smiled and leaned up to her, pausing when his lips were close to her ear. "I'd rather be just the biggest subject in your life, Kagome-chan."

She blushed and whispered back, "You already are. Can I expect the same from you?"

His smile became a grin. "If you like, I could certainly pull that off." Leaning back again, he stared into her eyes for a long moment. Just when he was positive that she was expecting a longful kiss, he said, "So about that watching thing. . ."

"Oh Kami-sama," she blurted, frustrated, and fell back on her bed. "Why do I bother with you?"

Taking full opportunity, he leaned over her and gave her the kiss she wanted. Drawing back slowly, he answered her, "Because I do things like that to keep you in love with me."

Her blush returned ful force, she smiled, and then she replied, "Right. I forgot that part."

He dropped his jaw in shock and snarled in mock outrage, "You **forgot**? What kind of gorgeous human mate are you?"

She looked truly surprised. "Mate?" she echoed.

Oops. He hadn't ever used that term to her before. "Sorry," he said quickly. "That's usually how demons refer to their life partners, and since the humans didn't accept me when I was still learning these things, I never picked up their habits of husband and wife."

She nodded in understanding. "Well, the word was kinda. . . endearing, I guess." She glanced away.

He raised his brows. "Oy, Kagome-chan. . . are you a little aroused?"

She shook her head and blushed.

But he knew better. He could smell it. Grinning, he went on, "Yeah you are. You keep forgetting, beloved, I can smell these things. Besides which, you already said I'm so damn animalistic. . . and that it's erotic. . ." He trailed off and lightly took her ear lobe between his lips, licking it before letting it go.

She shivered. "Blast you," she muttered. Smiling at him, she continued, "You're just so damn alluring, I can't resist you; plus you can read right through me, so I can't deny it in any way, shape or form."

He grinned. "I refuse to apologize."

Three days later and he got a reply from the message Kagome sent – a negative. Mr. Bell refused, mentioning loosely that he had more pressing matters to attend to, but promising a meeting sometime in the near future. The actual timeframe he gave was, "perhaps a week; no more than a month."

Were chairmen really that busy? How strange. Still, he had little else to do but wait anyway. He watched Kagome avidly during the day, sometimes went for walks in the evenings, and spent most nights at her house. The entertainment at her home came from playing with her dogs, rowdy romps under the sheets, and speaking to Eri in Japanese. Of Kagome's three friends, Eri is the only one who cannot speak Japanese – though she's getting the hang of understanding it. Yuka, Ayumi, Eri, Kagome, Sango, Miroku – it was almost far too much of a coincidence.

By studying their actions and reactions, he could actually see who they once were: allies. The lot of them, along with Kikyo and himself, fought alongside one another. Granted, Yuka, Ayumi and Eri didn't have much ability beyond some basic priestess powers, but they could attack just the same. Sango and Miroku were a bit different – they were full demons, once upon a time. As for his brother. . .

He didn't particularly like speaking of or remembering his brother, since Sesshomaru was such an asshole most of Inuyasha's life, but he had to wonder: whatever happened to Sesshomaru? He was so incredibly powerful, and quite a bit of a tactical genius, Inuyasha can't see how he would have died, or _could_ have, for that matter. Sesshomaru had too much going in his favor to have simply disappeared.

Inuyasha did remember, somewhat painfully, the exact day – the hour, the minute – when Sesshomaru discovered Rin had died. The poor girl had lived until her early twenties, and had begun priestess training when her powers were found, but she far too strong of a target. . . When Naraku rose up, he went after innocents as distractions.

Most of these distractions had little to no effect on Sesshomaru, but when he sent an assassin after Rin, Sesshomaru was devastated. Later, Sesshomaru had spoken to Inuyasha about it – since by then Kikyo had already died – and the two of them found a remarkable common ground: pain. They had both let a female human in, got too used to them, and grew to love them greatly. . . only to lose them. Inuyasha's pain, however, was far worse. . . He loved Kikyo immensely by the time Naraku confused them, and drew out a horrible twist in their minds.

It wasn't until much later that Inuyasha learned the truth, and then Kikyo had been resurrected as a shell of her former self, somehow strong and alive enough to keep on fighting until the very end. By then, everything had been forgiven and forgotten, and it wasn't difficult for Inuyasha to let Kikyo go. When she died and left the second time, still looking highly untrusting of him, he smiled and wished her well on the other side.

For Sesshomaru, it was different. He had already revived Rin once. . . he could not again. It had nearly driven him mad, angry enough that losing his arm to Naraku hadn't stopped his bloodlust – quite the contrary. Sesshomaru's madness only grew, making him berserk, perhaps a mockery of who he really is, but in the end, it didn't matter. Naraku died, peace filled them all, and since Rin's death had been avenged, Sesshomaru simply left. As always, Jakken and Ah-Un trotted after him, but Inuyasha never did spot him again.

From time to time, he would smell his brother, but the scent was often days old and judging by the intervals, it was Sesshomaru's way of letting him know that he was still alive. And then something happened that Inuyasha never understood: the sun eclipsed and turned black.

Like Naraku's miasma, the ground around him died, everything turned pitch dark, screams were heard from everywhere, fires died, and ultimately an earthquake shattered the ground. Inuyasha could clearly remember the feeling of being buried, of being trapped, of the air around him growing stagnant until he lost consciousness. At that point things seemed to get warm, and then there was nothing. . .

Until he woke up in that cell, Kagome's scent filtering into his nose, her soft voice murmuring through the buzzing in his ears. It was the best day of his life, really – smelling Kagome, realizing he was still alive, and the feel of her hands as she tried to dress him.

Granted, every now and again during his "sleep," he heard a few things, felt a few things. . . small moments of partial consciousness, keeping him somewhat alert of how the world was changing and moving on. Still, these things had not prepared him for the onslaught of the truth – this new world, this new age of mankind. . . almost devoid of demons completely.

"Almost." Every now and again he scented another, felt the presence of one or two. Nothing too great or small, just a hint, as though those who are demon or half demon are telling him that they still exist. He wondered how they survived, how old they are. . . for surely if there are demons from his old era, then certainly his brother would have managed.

Well. . . perhaps Sesshomaru wasn't ever powerful enough to take on Naraku and win in a fair fight, but if Inuyasha could make it, then so could Sesshomaru. Where was he, anyway. . ?

"Hey, you're wandering off again," Kagome voice broke into his mind.

He blinked and shook his head. "Sorry," he said in Japanese. He was sitting on her desk, watching her type this note and that, and letting her do whatever she needed to with his body and samples of him.

"Kagome," Sango called. "Could you translate for me?"

Kagome glanced over. "What is it you need to say?"

Sango toed the ground. "I want to ask Inuyasha about. . . other 'demons.' "

Kagome raised a brow. Putting on a show, she translated for him, and he pretended not to understand until she finished.

He replied, "Go on, ask."

– – – –

Note: Please don't reply talking about how my info here isn't accurate. This is an Alternate Universe, and I plan on exploiting that fact. . . Also, Cardinal – you know who you are – you still need to finish some sort of bio, or I'm going to take your character and let her develop on her own.

Maybe she'll marry Hojo, hehe.


	9. Reawakening

**New Age**

_Chapter Nine: Reawakening_

Blurry. Everything was blurry. Maybe the light was all gone; he couldn't tell for sure. Where was he, anyway? Moving proved that every part of him was held down – but no way was he going to stay kept that way. He weighed the options of his situation in his mind: he could be captured, which was highly unlikely, and this could either be a way to keep him still or a trap of some sort; on the other hand, maybe something happened and sent his body and mind into relapse. The latter seemed more likely, but then, why was the air he was breathing getting stiffer?

Crap. He was buried. He moved a little, testing with his body which way would be the best for an escape. Seems like his left arm had the most movement, but the weakest point was around his right ankle. He could hear grinding with every motion he made – grinding like the type of rock on rock. . . and some sort of whir. . .

He tensed, bunching up all the muscles in his body, and shoved violently with all four limbs, his tail whipping free as he flipped over and got his feet under him. He climbed up, scraping wildly at the crumbling rock walls around him, until he saw light. Charging up what power has regenerated, he shot a huge mouthful of acid straight up.

And all the rocks began melting, receding, allowing him room to get free. He launched himself upward, hard, out of the prison below. Above the scene, he floated for only a moment before landing – this time as a man. Taking scope of the area revealed things had changed much since he last saw it.

People were standing around in clothing he'd never seen, full body-suits that included name tags, and their boots all had trims of various colors. Three people were injured from his acid, screaming in agony and holding themselves. He also spotted several large machines, all looking to be oversized drills with huge shovels on larger arms. As he looked around, he noticed everyone was stepping back, staring at him with wide eyes, and whispering back and forth.

He caught the name "Inuyasha" multiple times, and decided to investigate a little. A more in-depth scope of their uniforms told him that the one with white trim must be some form of leader, so he approached that man. "You," he began, watching with a mental smirk as the man looked confused and stepped back.

"E tu hud ghuf yhodrehk dryd luimt ramb oui!" the man declared, waving his hands in front of him.

He stopped still. These men didn't know his language, and he hadn't a clue what they were saying. Maybe some painful stimulation would help this, but really, he was recovering and didn't want them to know. Rather than stay and risk them knowing, he chose instead to leave.

He hadn't gone five solid steps before he heard something odd and spun around. His reflexes being depleted, however, he couldn't fully dodge in time – something powerful and electric slammed into his chest. The shock nearly knocked him unconscious, and tossed him back a few feet. He tried to get his feet under him again, instinctively transforming back into him much larger, much angrier dog form, but again didn't get far.

Now from four locations, it felt, electricity like a dozen lightning strikes struck him, and this time, the shock was too strong – his mind went blank, his eyes saw nothing, and gradually, he heard nothing, either. His last thought was to remember the phrase, "Inuyasha – ra ec zicd mega Inuyasha."

About half an hour later, Kagome received an email from Mr. Bell. As she opened and read it, her insides seemed to freeze, little by little. Inuyasha noticed her expression and decided that teasing Miroku could wait, crossing the room to her and reading the message over her shoulder.

"Dr. Kagome –

"Precisely thirty-two minutes ago, our diggers at site 457-A were ambushed from below. They described the attacker as a huge blazing white dog with odd fur, which raised from the Earth only seconds after acid shot up and rained down from the same hole.

"The dog then preceded to take on the form of a man, with a few differences. He spoke in what they guessed in his pack language, but as the head of the excavation told him they had nothing, he turned to leave, which is when they detained him. It took several shocks from a level five electric bolt to knock him unconscious. While out, he returned to the form of the large white dog.

"He returned to the form of a man only minutes ago, and we are going to move him while he is unconscious, to your lab. Same rules as with Inuyasha apply: do not release both restraints at once, and try to keep him heavily sedated. He could very well be superior to Inuyasha, and in that case, much more dangerous.

Bell"

"Sesshomaru?" Inuyasha wondered aloud.

Kagome glanced over her shoulder at him. "Sesshomaru? That is. . . your brother, right?"

"Half-brother, but yeah. I'm not surprised he's alive, but the description is a little vague; it might not be him," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Might not be him?" she echoed. "You're insane, you know that? How many giant dogs are there from your time?"

"Honestly, more than you could count," he snapped back instinctively. Kagome, calling him _insane?_ What was she thinking? "The demons far outnumbered the humans, Kagome-chan. There were numerous packs of demons that shared the exact same characteristics, and most demons that appeared to be animals were several times their size."

"But he changed into a man," Kagome argued, fighting back a headache. Now she was going to have two demons to deal with?

"And most of the dog demons can do that, too."

She shut her eyes and rubbed her temple. "Guys," she called in New Tongue. "We're going to have another visitor. Another 'something' uncovered from below the surface. This one is much more dangerous than Inuyasha, so keep on guard. I don't know what we're getting yet."

Ayumi paled. "You're kidding me!" she squeaked. "I had a hard enough time adjusting to Inuyasha, and now we get another one?"

"You can go home if you think you can't handle it," Kagome told her.

Ayumi fidgeted. After a long pause, in which everyone watched her, she exhaled heavily. "Okay, I'll stay, but if he goes nuts. . ."

"We'll keep him sedated," Miroku promised her.

"Into a coma if necessary," Sango added. That was a lie, and everyone knew it, but it comforted Ayumi all the same.

For the next hour, everyone was tense. Getting things ready for the new subject was something like preparing for the worst-case scenario. The six officers that normally stand outside and guard were inside, guns fully loaded and ready for firing. All of the beakers and syringes and various equipment to be used were sitting in perfect order on Kagome's desk, and everyone was sitting – sitting and fidgeting, to be literal.

The demon was brought in, standing up, in a laid-back rectangular prison with several latches at every joint. A dozen guards prison-marched it in while a worker wheeled it to the cage, each guard holding a sparking shockstick. There were slits in the metal casing for breathing, but other than that, you couldn't see inside at all – and Inuyasha was trying hard to see inside.

They stopped a few feet from the cage, unlatched the box, and four guards took the man out and deposited him within the cage, while all the others stood ready to shock him. As soon as they backed off and latched him down, Inuyasha got a good look at him and jumped up.

"Kenjimaru!" he blurted.

The guards ignored him and put up the shield. Kagome signed a form with her thumbprint that she received the newcomer, and the guards left. After a few more moments of relative silence, everyone a little shocked that Inuyasha knew him, Inuyasha grabbed Kagome's keycard.

"What are you doing?" she snapped. "You can't just take things – Inuyasha!"

He already lowered the field – and everyone now knew for certain that Shroud likes all their captives to be naked. Ayumi tried to look away, Sango raised a brow, Miroku frowned, Kagome stood up, and Inuyasha knelt before the man.

"Kenjimaru" wasn't "Sesshomaru," but Inuyasha sure recognized him. The first thing Kagome noticed is that he had a cascade of long, white-blue hair, longer than any she could remember seeing. Inuyasha patted his face a few times, saying "Kenjimaru" in low tones, but received no answer. He seemed to get frustrated, and then Kagome watched in complete shock as he sliced open the tip of his finger with a claw, opened Kenjimaru's mouth, and stuck his bleeding fingertip inside. Kenjimaru twitched a little after a few seconds, and then Inuyasha took his hand back and Kenjimaru opened his eyes.

Like Inuyasha, Kenjimaru only spoke Japanese, saying, "Inuyasha-ojisan? So you _are_ alive."

"You heard of me recently?" Inuyasha asked.

"Men spoke your name moments after I awoke – what is holding me down?" he added in a growl.

Inuyasha leaned back and rapidly hit buttons, and all the straps unlatched. At that same moment, whatever had been holding the guards in place let go.

Kagome tried to reason with them as they wildly ordered Inuyasha to restrap the "prisoner," meanwhile Inuyasha was helping Kenjimaru stand up and step out of the cage. The guards aimed their guns and began yelling louder, the air thickening from tension – Miroku, Sango and Ayumi got up and flattened themselves against walls, trying to stay out of the fray; Kenjimaru was asking Inuyasha where he was, and then Inuyasha turned burning eyes towards the guards.

Letting Kenjimaru stand on his own, even as the man seemed very disorientated and was probably feeling strong aftereffects of being shocked unconscious, Inuyasha crossed the room to the guards and snatched one of them up by his armor.

"Fryd tet oui tu fedr rec vin?" he yelled in New Tongue.

"What is he saying?" Kenjimaru asked sharply in Japanese.

Kagome was busy trying to keep the guards from shooting Inuyasha, and Ayumi was just about ready to die – no one answered him.

Thoroughly frustrated, Kenjimaru glared at Sango and Miroku, repeating his question. Sango pointed at Ayumi while Inuyasha quizzed the guard again, more forcefully, and Kenjimaru looked over at Ayumi. "You speak my language?" he asked, his voice commanding an answer.

Ayumi looked at him, more than a little scared, and nodded shakily.

Kenjimaru crossed over to her and said, "Then tell me what Inuyasha-ojisan is saying."

Ayumi slid across the wall to put distance between them and stuttered, "H-he's asking them where your f-fur is."

And then everything exploded. Kenjimaru's eyes changed color as he realized his fur wasn't present on his left shoulder, two guards noticed his change of placement, and one guard shot Inuyasha. All three women screamed at the laserfire, Miroku hugged Sango to him, Inuyasha dropped the guard to place his hand over the wound, and Kenjimaru appeared on the other side of the room, holding up the guard who shot Inuyasha by his neck, his feet hanging above the floor and pressed against nothing but air.

"Where is my fur?" Kenjimaru shouted, his voice taking on a predatory growl, his eyes glowing red and green in his rage. The guards opened fire.

Inuyasha grabbed Kagome and leapt over the tables, dropping her behind her desk with Ayumi before jumping back to the guards. The two demons had no trouble knocking the guards out, but Inuyasha had a lot of trouble keeping Kenjimaru from killing them. He shouted at Kenjimaru several times not to kill anyone, but two guards were now missing limbs.

Kenjimaru was shot only twice from all that fire, and as such had two thin laser-holes on his body and blood in his hair. His fingernails on his right hand glowed green as he went for a killing blow on a guard, and Inuyasha stepped forward, taking the hit in his right shoulder. Kagome screamed again at seeing Inuyasha bleeding from more than a few places, and now with a clawed hand in his shoulder.

"I told you not to kill them," Inuyasha was saying. "You want to take your hand out of my arm now? Your poison stings."

Kenjimaru narrowed his eyes, his rage dying slowly and returning his eyes to normal. He pulled his hand back and stood up straight. "Where is my fur?" he asked in a low, cold voice.

Inuyasha rolled his shoulder back. "That, I don't know."

"I want it back, now!" Kenjimaru shouted.

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder and took a deep breath. "How's your nose?"

Kenjimaru glared. "As good as ever."

Inuyasha walked across the room, took Kagome's keycard out of the slot in the cage, and walked back across the room as Kagome stood up, still a little shocked. Inuyasha opened the door with the keycard and said, "Then we should go hunt it down – and your clothes."

Kenjimaru narrowed his eyes further. "Why should I stay with you?"

"Because I know this place – Kagome-chan, you can't come this time," he added as Kagome stepped forward.

"Come?" she echoed. "I'm trying to stop the two of you from doing something stupid!"

Kenjimaru eyed Kagome carefully, sniffed lightly, then looked over at Inuyasha. "This woman is your mate."

Inuyasha nodded. "We're not going to do anything stupid. We're going to find our things; we didn't _wake up naked_, you know."

"You two attacked guards, broke rules, broke _**laws**_, and now are breaking out!" Kagome shot back.

"I thought I was free to come and go," Inuyasha argued.

"Maybe you are, but not to this extent – you're going to get us all in trouble! We might get fired because we can't control you two!" She grabbed onto his arm and tried to plead with him, shaking her head. "We can't exactly go into hiding if you turn into a felon; there's no where _left_ to hide."

"Not to worry, I'm a smooth-talker," Inuyasha tried.

"I'm growing impatient," Kenjimaru broke in. "We leave now, or I leave you behind and do things _my_ way."

Kagome looked scared of that. Inuyasha pulled his arm away and pushed her back into the room. "We'll be good."

"My keycard doesn't have access everywhere," she tried to argue.

"We make our own access. I won't stand for my nephew to stay naked and without his fur."

_Fur?_ Kagome's mind echoed. _Nephew? _She shook her head as Inuyasha put the keycard back in her hand and went into the hallway.

"That's an elevator, remember those?" Inuyasha asked, pointing at the double doors a little way down.

"Too slow," Kenjimaru answered simply. At that same moment, an alarm began blaring, and red lights flashed on and off slowly all around them.

Inuyasha turned sharply. "The window, then, since you set off alarms."

The two broke into a run and smashed right through the window, and began free falling. Kagome followed them to the window and stared down in shock, wind whipping her hair free of her ponytail and all around her face. She watched them fall until she couldn't see them anymore.

Around level thirty, they both scented Kenjimaru and dug their claws into solid concrete, sliding to a stop on the building before smashing another window and jumping inside. They wove around halls and doors, avoiding most guards but knocking out those they encountered. At last they broke through a door which held Kenjimaru's strongest scent, and inside they found their previous outfits and fur.

"Now that we've pissed everyone off," Inuyasha began as Kenjimaru lightly touched his fur, "what next?"

"I leave," Kenjimaru answered, rage making his hand shake. His fur was latched down and out straight on a long table, though it still moved when he touched it. He ripped the straps to shreds and put it over his left shoulder.

"You really are the spitting image of your father," Inuyasha commented while Kenjimaru scouted out his clothing and began dressing. "If it weren't for your crescent being red and your streaks blue, I'd mistake you, easily."

Kenjimaru glanced at him. "I know this. You, on the other hand, look very little like my father. Only the colors are the same."

Inuyasha nodded. "Did Sesshomaru die while I was out?"

"Chichi-ue will always live on," Kenjimaru answered roughly, finishing with his shoes. He threw Inuyasha's red clothing at him. "How long has it been since we last met, Inuyasha-ojisan?"

"Around seven hundred years," Inuyasha answered as he undressed. "It's been almost five centuries since the 'Fall' these people talk about. From what I know, society as a whole crashed and they had to start over from scratch." Now finished dressing, he sighed. "Ah, I missed these clothes. . ."

"You should fill me in on what I've missed," Kenjimaru said roughly, almost ordering, barely stopping himself for respect of his father's brother.

"We'll have to leave for that," Inuyasha countered, picking up a communicator from the desk in front of him. He dialed Kagome's number and waited for her to answer.

"_What are you doing?"_ she all but screamed. _"The alarm's blaring – don't roll your eyes at me!"_

"Kenjimaru and I are going to disappear for a while," he told her. "It. . . you know it won't be easy for me to leave you, but it shouldn't take too long. Intelligence runs in the family."

"_Family?"_ Kagome repeated. _"So Kenjimaru _**is**_related to you?"_

"Yeah, and he'll get offended if you don't end his name with 'sama' so try to keep that in mind. Bye, Kagome-chan."

"_Wait a -"_

He turned it off and set it down. Looking up at Kenjimaru, he said, "I'll explain everything I can as we go, just keep in mind that going much lower than this level will result in entering a heavy, polluted fog."

"Then we'll have to fly, won't we?" Kenjimaru replied. They both stepped to the nearest wall and with a single hard hit, it had a gaping hole. "They call this 'property damage,' don't they?" he asked.

"Yep. Kind of fun, isn't it?"

They stepped out and onto Kenjimaru's fur, which expanded and grew into a veritable furry flying carpet. They went up and up, moving faster until they were high above the ground. Inuyasha explained as they went, going in the direction Inuyasha suggested as safest, dodging a few air fighters along the way.

Kagome was left trying to explain why Inuyasha freed Kenjimaru, why they attacked the guards, where they went, and when they were going to return – if at all. And she hardly had an answer, let alone one that made sense.

"By saying he'll always live on, you didn't mean it literally, did you?"

After finding a few landmarks, Kenjimaru recognized where they were, and took a turn. About halfway through the flight, Inuyasha thought to check their clothes for any kind of tracer, and found a total of six between them – one in Kenjimaru's fur. Now they stood in a cave they had to uncover to reach, in front of a stone slab and small shrine dedicated to Sesshomaru.

"No one knows exactly where he is," Kenjimaru replied slowly. He always held his father in the highest regard, and as Inuyasha was learning, Kenjimaru was having a lot of difficulty facing his father's disappearance.

"What happened to him?"

Kenjimaru glanced up and met Inuyasha's eyes. "As I said, no one knows."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"Around a century before this 'Fall'."

"You're bothered by talking about it, aren't you?"

"I don't know what happened to him!" Kenjimaru exploded. He whipped around and punched the side of the cave hard, making the entire area shake, growling and hissing in an attempt to get a grip on himself again. "You only saw him but once after Rin died; you don't know how hard he took it!"

"Did he just leave?" Inuyasha asked, trying not to sound forceful.

"**No one fucking knows!**" Kenjimaru screamed, almost completely losing himself.

". . .What are you hoping happened to him?" Inuyasha asked more tentatively.

To Inuyasha's utter surprise, Kenjimaru's mood changed swiftly. He collapsed, claws digging into the wall and leaving deep scratch marks. He didn't answer, but remained on his knees, head bent, still and silent. To any onlooker, it would have seemed that Kenjimaru had just died.

And it occurred to Inuyasha why Kenjimaru reacted this way. "There's a rumor, isn't there?" he asked, his tone very low and quiet. "There's a rumor why Sesshomaru left, where he went, and everything. There's some rumor that you can't believe is true."

Kenjimaru took a shuddering breath and said, "They say he went insane, and tried to fly above the sky. They say he died up there, and his body dissolved, leaving nothing but I to prove he ever existed."

Inuyasha looked over at the stone tablet. The etching on it had faded badly over the years, and reading it proved useless. The small shrine was locked shut, with rusted hinges and splitting wood. Though he hated to do this, he stepped closer to the shrine and broke the lock.

Kenjimaru looked up sharply when he heard the noise, and jumped up. "What are you doing?" he yelled. "Inuyasha-ojisan!"

Inuyasha looked inside the shrine and saw exactly what he knew would be there – a scroll. He pulled it out and handed it over to Kenjimaru. "Maybe this has answers."

Kenjimaru took it, staring at it. After a few long moments, he gave a small laugh. "Of course. If Chichi-ue left it there, he knew I would never open the shrine. . . but that you wouldn't hesitate to smash it." He glanced up. "Are you sure this would be mine?"

"Open it and find out," Inuyasha offered. "In the meantime, I'm getting hungry." He turned to the entrance and left, searching like he used to for any wild animal. Not exactly an easy thing to do, given they were about a kilometer below the ground – the _new_ ground – with a city surrounding them.

Granted it was a mostly dead city, but a city all the same. People here looked sick and old, with very few young ones, and no one cared in the least that he was around. All the shops appeared closed, the buildings were in need of repair, and the odd Shroud worker wandered around, doing this and that. It seemed they were trying to save this city from becoming nothing, and were having difficulty doing so.

Though Inuyasha stood out, no one here knew he had "escaped," and so none of them were on alert. Feeling bad for some of the people here, Inuyasha decided that when he found something to kill, he was going to kill a lot of it and feed who he could. The small parcels of food the Shroud workers handed around were far too small, even if they were packed with vitamins and such.

The closest thing they had to running water was an exposed water main with a section of metal missing. People who were thirsty came here with bowls and glasses, filled them up, and drank, then moved on. It was a hugely drastic change from the city he knew, where Kagome lived and worked. This place was craving to be wild, natural, and free, yet they had tried to build a civilized, mechanical world above it.

It was only natural it was going to fail.

About roughly a half an hour of searching fruitlessly for animals, he checked back in on Kenjimaru. "How's things going?"

Kenjimaru looked up, frustrated. "He wrote everything in metaphors. Metaphors that only I know, hiding the meaning of every passage in here. It's been very long since the last time I heard many of these, so I'm having difficulty deciphering it all."

"What do you have so far?" Inuyasha asked, sitting down.

Kenjimaru went back up to the beginning and began reading aloud, translating the metaphors. "Kenimaru, never believe what others say," he began. "Many people are very jealous of the power of our bloodline, and would lie to you. I will admit that I have gone mad, but not so much as to fly above the sky.

"Repeat to Inuyasha this: We are not true brothers. I am certain you are aware of this. We fought for far too long to be trusting of one another, yet for this I require your aid. I am not dead quite yet. Jakken would have left this scroll in its place as I told him, knowing you would be the one to find it. I have trapped myself and done so purposefully.

"You would know in a second where I am. Think of nothing else but where I would go to be separate from the world for as long as I wished. However, getting out is not so simple as I believed. The seal on the 'door' has strengthened beyond my means of freeing myself, and over the course of the last few decades, I have been reviving dead members of our kind.

"With their strength and mine, I will send Jakken away from here with Ah-Un.

"Kenjimaru, this is. . ." Kenjimaru trailed off there and looked up from the scroll. "This is just for your eyes alone."

Inuyasha nodded. "The rest is personal, huh?" He looked towards the entrance of the cave and sighed heavily. "I know where he is."

– – – –

End.

To put simply, I know what I'm doing now. :P Yes, I gave Inuyasha a nephew named Kenjimaru, the spitting image of his father. And to all you girls out there, he was NEKKID! Naked naked naked naked naked!

Have fun imagining that!


	10. Recovering The Lost

**New Age**

_Chapter Ten: Recovering The Lost_

Because of what happened, with Inuyasha breaking out Kenjimaru – if you could call it that – and the two of them disappearing, Kagome and her team were all put under house arrest plus observation. She imagined all of them, not just herself, had to stand by and watch as engineers screwed various microphones and cameras into key points of their homes.

As it was, she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming in outrage. They put a tap on her communicator and a guard at each of her doors, even going so far as to place a tracer on each of her dogs' collars with orders to not take it off. Mr. Bell apologized for this by phone, telling her in so many words that he'd fought the other board members about the house arrest but lost by numbers.

Then he made a joke about her being around Inuyasha long enough to have taken on some of his characteristics, such as being able to escape without a trace, which she waved off by saying, "Not a chance, I can hardly walk a street without knocking something over."

Her answer was purposefully exaggerated, as she thought he was hinting that she _should _try to get out unnoticed. Still, she could think of nothing, despite her logic and intelligence granted to her by continual schooling and study. She kept thinking that she might be able to interfere with the wavelengths given off by the cameras, and from there just try to stay silent, but with what she had in the house, she couldn't build something like that. Eri had been no help, in fact tripping on the stairs and making a guard come in to check on them the first day.

Three days went by in a very bored manner, with food delivered to them – since Eri and the dogs counted – on the second day to restock her fridge and cabinets. Up until then, Kagome kept having bad feelings and her dreams seemed to be getting creepier, but it hadn't been anything that actually scared her. On the third night, when she fell asleep, she immediately felt trapped and vulnerable. . .

Something was keeping her asleep, keeping her trapped, and preventing her eyes from opening. She tried to struggle, to move in some way, but she couldn't move – or at least, she couldn't feel herself moving. Her muscles weren't responding, and the light filtering through her eyelids didn't help as she couldn't see anything.

With each second she began panicking a little more, forcing herself to move against whatever was holding her in place, trying to at least return feeling to her body. It was so disconcerting, to not even know whether you're facing up, down, sideways, or floating somewhere. The latter, however, was shot down by the knowledge that something _was_ holding her still.

She got an odd feeling of deja vu then, like she'd been in this situation before, but she knew she wasn't. It was then that she knew why it felt familiar: because Inuyasha had been in this position before.

As soon as she realized it, feeling came rushing back to her body, and she could tell now that she was sitting up, head down, with straps practically bolting her down. Still, she couldn't move and couldn't open her eyes – a feeling which only made her panic more when she heard voices talking quietly nearby. At first she couldn't understand them, and then her mind began translating for her. . .

". . .the one we've been looking for. . ?"

"That's what Headquarters said. I don't know though, she looks really. . . scrawny."

"What, because she's thin? What do you expect? She's only been dead for who knows how long."

"Still has a really pretty face for being 'dead,' you know."

Chuckling was the answer, before the voice went on. "So she's superhuman in what way?"

"That's what we're going to find out. They gave us these tools to use. . ." As the voice trailed off, the sound of a powered tool whirred to life.

"Ugh, we have to cut her apart? Are you kidding?"

"Hey, she's dead; it's not like it's gonna hurt her any."

"It still seems. . . really cruel."

"Pretend we're coroners and get over it! We're being paid to report on how this lady ticks, alive or dead, right?"

"You sound like you're going to enjoy this. . ."

"Maybe I just want to get my hands on her, y'know?"

"That's sick. From now on, I'm making sure you don't do any of the touching."

"Aw, but she's dead!"

"And you're going to be shocked if you keep up that attitude. You know they're watching us."

In the back of her throat, she felt a growl begin, very quietly, which went unnoticed as the men kept talking, their feet shuffling around the floor.

"A shock might be worth it if you think about it."

"I'd rather be thinking of my wife and you should, too."

"Jesus be damned, man! Can't you at least joke?" Rapid beeping followed his words.

And the other man began yelling. "It's not right for you to make jokes about things like that! I know we've got our orders, but that doesn't mean you've got to be perverted about it!"

"I hate you so much. You don't even get that I'm just trying to keep the mood light."

"'Just trying to keep the mood light,' " the other man mocked. "You're still sick."

"Fine!" There was a clang like the tool from before had been thrown down. "How about I leave and you do the job yourself?"

"Hey, I was just thinking the same thing," he spat out.

Without an answer, a set of feet began stomping out of the room, and then she felt a hand touch her arm and heard a sigh. "Are you really dead?" the voice asked, very quietly. "I don't think so. Hell, I don't want to do this," he said, his words accompanied by a soft beeping a voice declaring he owed Sets for a swear.

Kagome's mind figured out where she was then. As far as she knew, only business buildings had Swear Detectors, and only Shroud and Police had the specific kind of chair she was sitting on – the same seat Inuyasha and Kenjimaru once occupied.

But what was _**she**_ doing there? Why had they called her superhuman? She felt the straps retract and then she was lifted and laid out, but still her body wouldn't move, and her mouth refused to form words. The tiny growl remained, so quiet she knew the man couldn't hear it.

He said, "I'm sorry, but don't worry, I'll make this painless for you." She heard something lifted, something long and thin – a syringe.

Panic surged through her again, making her ignore the question in her mind – the question that asked, _How would I know from a sound what he picked up?_ – even as her body still didn't obey. Her heart wasn't beating fast, her breathing wasn't quick and shallow, and even though she felt uninhibited, she still couldn't lift her limbs.

She felt the pierce in her elbow where he injected the needle, felt liquid enter her veins, and then felt the pain entirely go away. And then she heard another whir of a tool warming up, and knew it was getting closer. And then she was moving, and her eyes were open, but she wasn't in control of herself. She swatted at the tool, watching the small handheld saw as it flew across the room. She met the eyes of a lab man in a white coat and name tag, with fluffy red hair and green eyes, staring at her in shock as she jumped up and away, flattening herself against a wall.

She heard an alarm go off, heard herself growl loudly at the man still gazing at her like stone. And then she heard the whoosh of a door opening and moved away from it, deciding instead to aim for the window – wait, she didn't want to jump out the window! Her body leapt at and went straight through the glass, shattering it, and she began freefalling.

She tried to scream, but her jaw wasn't obeying. She tried to reach out and grab onto one of the vehicles flying by, but her hand wouldn't stretch out. She landed on her feet, hard, on a walkway, cracking it, but that wasn't right – she should be crushed from the length of the fall she took. And then her body, against her will, was running again, and took another leap off the walkway.

That's when she realized that this wasn't her body, that she was simply holding on for the ride. She struggled more now, to leave this body and return to herself, and felt her eyes close to savor the rush of air briefly. And then she felt herself slam into something hard, felt pain shoot through the parts of her body unaffected by the anesthetics.

She screamed.

"Wake up, you lazy son of a bitch!"

Kagome yelped as she woke up harshly, sitting up straight and clutching at herself as she realized the pain rushing through her body wasn't there anymore. She was panting, sweating, and shaking, and could have sworn she'd just heard a voice telling her to wake up.

"Finally," a female voice sighed. "You're hard to work with."

"What?" she blurted, ignoring the way her voice quivered. She looked over towards the voice and saw a cloaked and hooded figure, like one of those assassins out of storybooks. She stiffened, almost expecting the woman she saw to pull out a blade and cut her down before she remembered that the woman had woken her up.

"Long story short," the woman was saying, "my Boss sent me to get you. I've put the cameras and microphones on a ten-minute loop, so get dressed and let's go! The guards won't stay asleep for long."

"What?" Kagome repeated.

"Have you ever read a spy novel?" the woman spat impatiently.

"Why?"

"Spies never reveal themselves until they're in a safe location, so until then, you're going to have to trust me." She tossed a full bag on Kagome's lap. "That has clothes and some food. We're leaving as soon as you're dressed, but make it fast – I don't have a problem with taking you along naked."

At that, Kagome realized that the woman was very much serious. A part of her wanted to rebel, but she chided herself on that. _What do you have to be doing here?_ she all but laughed at herself as she obeyed, selecting clothes to wear. _Nothing,_ she answered herself.

Once dressed, the woman took her hand and shouldered the bag. She pulled out a leaf and placed it on the bed, which immediately made a popping sound and made an image of Kagome, sleeping in her bed.

And Kagome stared at it in shock, even as the woman pulled on her arm and led her outside and into an AirCar. As they took off and left her home behind, she felt bad, knowing that her dogs and Eri would utterly panic. She wondered if her friends would be imprisoned for this, possibly to get whatever information they could on her whereabouts.

"Cardinal."

Kagome looked up, surprised by the word. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"My name is Cardinal. My boss is Mr. Bell. And you have just officially been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" she echoed, forcing back the wave of panic that went through her.

"Here, read this," Cardinal said, tossing a metal pad into Kagome's lap.

_A news bulletin?_ Kagome thought, recognizing it. She pressed the "on" button and watched it flash to life, listening as the faded image of a reporter began listing today's headlines. None of them caught her attention until the man said, _"And lastly, the kidnapping of one of Shroud's leading researchers, Ms. Kagome Higurashi. Sources say that recently the subject known as 'Inuyasha' left by his own hand, and shortly after, his team of researchers were put under house arrest for their own safety."_ That was a lie and Kagome knew it.

The man went on, _"An unknown person or persons shortly thereafter nullified all communications equipment within Higurashi's home, leaving behind only a note, an emblem which police officials are identifying as we speak, and a missing Higurashi. Her roommate, Eri, doesn't seem to know anything, and currently the only theory on Higurashi's kidnapping is possibly that someone is trying to use her to bring 'Inuyasha' back into the open. More on this story as it develops."_

"Kami-sama," she murmured. "So, Cardinal, why the hoax?"

"Because," Cardinal answered, tossing back her hood and revealing red hair, "Boss can't make it seem like he had a part in this. As it is, you're a liability to me, so guess what you have to do."

Thousands of retorts flashed through Kagome's mind, but in the end, she beat them all back and thought logically. "You're going to leave me in some sort of safe house with orders to not leave nor draw attention, aren't you?"

"Close. You're going to be operating with me, very quietly, to track down your missing boyfriend. And don't give me that look, I know you two are physical." Handing Kagome a small parcel, she went on, "Once you two are together, I'm leaving you with him, and the two of you are staying away. Got that? If Boss wants me to contact you again, that's up to him, not you."

Looking inside the bag showed it to have a few more thin, square, metal slabs, which Kagome recognized as being for long-range holographic communications. "Why do I need four of these?" she asked.

"One for each of us. You, me, Inuyasha, and Kenjimaru."

"Wait, how do _you_ know Kenjimaru?"

"World-class spy, genius." Cardinal aimed the AirCar almost straight down then, scaring Kagome as the vehicle nosedived into the ground. "Hang on," was her only warning.

"What?" Kagome half shouted, half shrieked, gripping the parcel and the door tightly.

And then Cardinal punched a button, grabbed Kagome by the arm, and the two of them went flying out of the car as it crashed and exploded on the ground. Meanwhile Kagome was clinging to the red-haired woman who threw her into this, watching in shock as Cardinal seemed to sprout wings from under her cloak.

The wings, Kagome noticed, were cloth and metal, made by hand. But at night, you wouldn't even be able to see these wings, which made Kagome more than a little happy that the sun was breaking now. Had it been pitch-dark, well, the entire experience would have reminded her far too much of her trip down the elevator all those months ago.

"Where are we going?" she shouted over the rushing wind in her ears, then blinked twice as her close quarters with Cardinal showed the woman to have pointed ears instead of rounded ones.

"Don't yell, I can hear you perfectly," Cardinal replied. "Ah, see, there's your boy."

Kagome looked and saw a red-and-white blur heading straight for them, almost seeming to fly as much as Cardinal was. "Inuyasha?" she asked, stunned.

"Get ready," Cardinal warned her.

"Ready for _what_?" Kagome all but snapped back, then screamed when the woman holding her wasn't holding her anymore. Not even a second later and she was swept up by another set of arms, and her heart calmed a little when she recognized the face of the one holding her. "Inuyasha," she sighed.

He didn't look happy. When they set down on the ground again, he stood her up and searched the sky for Cardinal, growling when he didn't see her. Then he turned his angry eyes towards her. "Who was that woman? Did she attack you? What's going on?"

Just as Kagome opened her mouth to speak, a thud silenced her and she jumped into Inuyasha's arms again. The sound was caused by the duffel bag shown to her earlier, landing beside her. Looking up at Inuyasha's confused gaze, she exhaled heavily. "Long story short, nice to see you again," she smiled.

"Okay," Inuyasha said, "so, to recap. . . You were put under house arrest. Cardinal 'kidnapped' you by orders of your own boss. She brought you here, just to get you off her hands. Now you're not allowed to go back?"

She was about to say, _"I'll go back if I damn well please,"_ but then she remembered the holodiscs. "Let's ask," she offered, and took them out. Kenjimaru was near and looked on with half-interest, the rest of his attention seemingly on Cardinal, whom he was talking to.

Kagome was a little surprised when Cardinal dropped out of the sky, explaining that she couldn't land while holding another person and a bag. She also explained that when she dropped out of Inuyasha's sight, she was circling a building right nearby and apologized for scaring Kagome. Then the three of them walked to the Shrine where Kenjimaru still waited, as though he was patiently wasting time until something monumental happened.

Then Kagome and Cardinal explained the situation back home.

Having set up the holodiscs, she told Inuyasha and Kenjimaru how they worked, and they all stood in front of their particular one. The screens glowed blue as they powered up, and then each of the discs showed Mr. Bell, who was sitting at his desk, reclined back and in deep thought.

"Reporting," Cardinal said, making the man jump in surprise. His eyes obviously hadn't been on his own holodisc.

He stood up and walked over to it, laying on the ground and coming into better focus as he neared. "You're all looking well," he commented. Because Kenjimaru only knew so much of their language, from what he'd learned from Inuyasha, Kagome translated for him.

"To put bluntly, mission succeeded," Cardinal replied. "Anything to say on your end, Sir?"

"Yes, in fact," Bell said. "Something _very_ odd happened last night, while you were out to retrieve Kagome. To put simply, Inuyasha is not the first 'creature' we found under the wreckage. The first was a woman, as far as we could tell."

"As far as you could tell?" Kagome echoed.

"Her body was, for all rights and purposes, dead. It even looked decomposed partially. We had her on ice and nearly forgotten until recently, when _she_ proclaimed her presence."

"What?" Inuyasha blurted, trying to figure in his mind how that would work.

"It gets better," Bell promised. "On ice or not, she screamed. One of our workers heard her and tried to get her out and warm, but the moment after she screamed, she went silent. Essentially, she died again, and I don't know what to do with her now. I originally had no rights over her; it was under Gagrin's jurisdiction. He had a few of his scientists look her over, and last night, two of them were ordered to cut her apart and find out if any part of her was still alive. She was alive, alright. . ."

Kagome stilled, even as her mouth kept translating. This was beginning to sound suspiciously like her dream, which up until now had been forgotten.

"She literally came alive, jumped through the plate glass window, and eventually fell into an AirCar. Her body took the impact well, but seemed to have killed her again. We can't detect any life in her body at all, and after that episode, Gagrin gave her over to my section. I'm not sure what to do with her just yet, but for the moment, she's remaining clothed and in a hospital bed. If she comes alive again, I'll try to keep her calm and conscious."

"Anything else to say?" Inuyasha asked, looking disturbed.

"Only one," Bell answered, and spoke to Kenjimaru. "Whoever you are, I suggest you don't come back to any major city anytime soon. You, or Inuyasha, for that matter. The two of you are essentially 'shoot on sight' by police officials, more so Kenjimaru, since you woke up by yourself. Word is spreading to the news as we speak, despite our efforts to stop it. And Kagome, good luck out there."

With that, the screens turned off, save for Cardinals. He said directly to her, "Report to me in full what happened." Then the last screen was off, and Cardinal turned to leave.

"Wait," Kagome said. "You're. . . a demon, aren't you?"

The woman turned around with a smile. "Half-bred kitsune and wolf, but yes. That said, goodbye." She waved, and then – in a showy puff of smoke – was simply gone.

Kagome looked over at Inuyasha. "So, what are we doing?"

"Kenjimaru is decoding a message," he answered, "whereas _we_ are doing nothing."

"Nearly finished," Kenjimaru put in. "I have a few passages left, and then we must save Chichi-ue."

Inuyasha practically boggled at Kenjimaru before giving a laugh. "When you say 'Chichi-ue' like that, I swear you sound just like your father."

"On that subject," Kagome cut in, "explain to me what the two of you are doing out here."

Leading Kagome to the shrine cave, Kenjimaru went back to translating the text written there, and Inuyasha began telling Kagome what he knew. It started with the parts he'd left out - Sesshomaru going seemingly insane after Rin's premature death, Kenjimaru trying desperately to return his father to normal, the disappearance of Sesshomaru and the "apocalypse."

At the end, Kagome said, "Sounds like Sesshomaru's disappearance directly resulted in the downfall."


End file.
